Licensing Procedures

1. Authorisations

In accordance with the statutory powers and functions of the Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, the Minister may issue the authorisations listed in paragraph (2) below. The principal relevant statute is the Petroleum and Other Minerals Development Act, 1960. All authorisations issued by the Minister shall be subject to the conditions contained hereinafter.

The authorisations are:-

• Petroleum Prospecting Licence issued under Section 9(1) of the Act
• Undertaking to grant an Exploration Licence ("Licensing Option") issued under Section 7(1) of the Act
• Exploration Licence issued under Section 8(1) of the Act
• Undertaking to grant a Petroleum Lease ("Lease Undertaking") issued under Section 10(1) of the Act
• Petroleum Lease issued under Section 13(1) of the Act
• Reserved Area Licence issued under Section 19(1) of the Act.

Applications for any authorisation shall be accepted from corporate entities incorporated under Irish law or from foreign companies.

Where a holder of any authorisation other than a Petroleum Prospecting Licence or a Licensing Option is a foreign company it must have permanent representation in Ireland which is fully authorised to act for such company and to enter into binding commitments in its name.

The receipt of an application will not create any obligation on the part of the Minister to grant any authorisation.

Non-returnable fees shall be payable to the Minister at the time of submission of an application.

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2. Areas to which these terms apply

These terms apply to the Irish offshore comprising the territorial waters of the State and offshore areas designated by Order from time to time under the Continental Shelf Act, 1968.

The Irish offshore is divided into numbered quadrants of the Offshore (Williams) Grid, measuring 1 degree of latitude by 1 degree of longitude, each quadrant being divided into 30 numbered blocks.

A map of this area is available on request from the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources, Petroleum Affairs Division, Leeson Lane, Dublin 2 or may be inspected in the office of the Geological Survey of Ireland, Beggars Bush, Haddington Road, Dublin 4.

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3. Criteria for consideration of applications

In considering an application the Minister will take the following into account having regard to the authorisation applied for:

• the work programme proposed by the applicant;
• the technical competence and offshore experience of the applicant;
• the financial resources available to the applicant; andwhere relevant, previous performance by the applicant under any authorisations to which the applicant has been a party.

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4. Information on applicant to be supplied with application

An application shall provide (in the case of an application made by a group of companies, in respect of each participant) where appropriate:

• the name, address and nationality of the applicant including information as to the identity of the person who will serve as liaison with the Irish authorities;
• a copy of the charter or constitution of the applicant;
• information concerning the applicant's place of registration, its principal place of business, its board of directors, the domicile and nationality of board members, its share capital and shareholdings;
• information as to the form of the organisation, including, where relevant, information concerning the relationship with its parent company and other integrated corporate structures that may be involved, its technical resources, its petroleum production, refining and marketing capacities and its own petroleum requirements;
• where required, further details as to the financial structure of the applicant and its parent company including the annual reports for the last three years together with copies of the balance sheets and the profit and loss accounts for the same period, as well as information as to the manner in which exploration and development activities are to be financed and performance guaranteed;
• in the case of an application for an Exploration Licence, Reserved Area Licence or Petroleum Lease, confirmation that the applicant is chargeable, in accordance with the laws of Ireland, to tax in respect of profits, income and capital gains arising from, or connected with, operations conducted in the offshore area to which the authorisation applies;
• information concerning the applicant's previous experience in exploration for and exploitation of petroleum;
• information concerning any authorisation previously issued by the Minister to the applicant or to which the applicant was a party;
• a statement detailing the applicant's policy towards the safety, health and welfare of the workforce; and
• a statement detailing the applicant's policy towards the environment.

Additional information may be sought by the Minister following the receipt of applications.

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5. Information on work programme to accompany application

Each application shall be accompanied, where appropriate, by:

• a statement describing the area(s) to which the application applies;
• information as to the geological, geophysical and other data upon which the application is based, accompanied by a comprehensive technical assessment of this data;
• a full and detailed description of the work programme which the applicant proposes to carry out; in the case of an application for an Exploration Licence or Reserved Area Licence, the information to be provided will be consistent with the phased nature of the Licence and shall in any event include a detailed description of the programme proposed for the first phase of the Licence; and
• a statement as to the applicant's organisational and operational structures for effecting the proposed work programme.

Additional information may be sought by the Minister following receipt of the above information.

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