Offshore Oil & Gas Decommissioning – International Guide

Removing old assets and restoring the seabed bring complex technical and legal hurdles, but also unlocks opportunities for innovation, reuse, and sustainable practices. Against this backdrop, CMS, with 600 energy lawyers across 80 offices worldwide, is uniquely positioned to guide stakeholders through the varying legal and regulatory frameworks in jurisdictions with offshore oil and gas assets and to look over the horizon at what might be coming as legal and regulatory landscapes evolve.

The Guide is designed to provide an easily accessible overview of the legal and regulatory position in key decommissioning jurisdictions, in a way that will provide investors or those seeking to offer services in this sector some insight to the key drivers and challenges that may exist. The Guide takes the form of responses to a series of questions, so also facilitates comparison between different approaches. The questions cover three main areas:

1. Who must do what?: Which authorities oversee offshore decommissioning, what laws and regulations apply (including liability for planning, execution and post‑decommissioning monitoring), what penalties apply for non‑compliance, and are there any tax reliefs or similar incentives for decommissioning costs?
2. Who pays for it? How are decommissioning liabilities allocated between licensees, co‑venturers and the State, what security is required and in what forms, and how are these liabilities managed in asset and corporate sale processes?
3. What next? What are the key current hot topics for decommissioning in the jurisdiction, and how does decommissioning interact with low‑carbon or energy transition projects?

Should you have any questions or wish to discuss any topics covered here in more details, please reach out to Valerie Allan or Paula Kidd.