There may be errors in the case processing that extend back several decades. This is indicated by the preliminary knowledge from an investigation by the Attorney General of the Danish Energy Agency into the Danish Energy Agency's EIA practice for oil and gas activities under the Exclusive Licence.
However, the Attorney General's investigation does not currently indicate that action should be taken against the current oil and gas production in the North Sea. The investigation has been initiated at the request of the Danish Energy Agency, the agency states in a statement.
The investigation into the agency's EIA practices has been initiated based on a suspicion of errors in the EIA processes for the Dan, Gorm, Halfdan and Harald fields under the Exclusive Licence and a generally heightened attention to ensuring correct administration in the oil and gas sector following criticism from the Danish National Audit Office in 2021.
Investigation completed in a few weeks
Specifically, it is about uncovering whether approvals have been granted under Sections 10, 17 and to a certain extent Section 28 of the Subsoil Act on the Gorm, Dan, Halfdan, Harald and Tyra fields without full compliance with the EIA and habitat regulations. The investigation will shed light on the consequences for the approvals and how, if necessary, the errors can be corrected.
The Danish Energy Agency expects the investigation to be completed within the coming weeks and will provide a clearer overview of the errors that have been made, the consequences for approvals, and how they can be corrected to the extent necessary. However, the Danish Energy Agency is already in the process of changing procedures in case processing based on the preliminary insight.
- We await the Attorney General's investigation with great attention. There are currently indications that there has been a lack of full compliance with the EIA rules in the processing of cases in the oil and gas sector, and that the lack of compliance began several decades ago, says Director General of the Danish Energy Agency, Kristoffer Böttzauw, and continues:
- We have therefore taken steps to ensure full compliance with the EIA rules in our processing of current and future applications.
Approvals must not be revoked or restricted
The Danish Energy Agency works on the assumption that oil and gas projects have been approved that have been considered to be covered by a previously completed environmental impact assessment of the entire oil and gas field.
However, the EIA rules require specific and detailed descriptions of the individual works, which probably cannot be sufficiently ascertained in the environmental impact assessments of the fields. In addition, oil and gas projects have probably been approved without adequate habitat assessments having been carried out.
The Chamber Advocate currently assesses that the results of the investigation do not provide grounds for concluding that approvals already granted should be revoked or restricted, or that any other action should be taken against current oil and gas production in the North Sea. However, additional environmental protection measures may be needed. The Danish Energy Agency therefore currently expects that the case will not have any impact on security of supply.
The consequences of the changed environmental procedures will mean that operators in the North Sea will experience changed requirements for already submitted and future applications. This is a consequence of the EIA rules as they should have been administered.
The Danish Energy Agency will be in close dialogue with the oil and gas operators in the coming weeks to ensure detailed guidance on the changed requirements, including in order to limit the effect on the companies' efforts to increase gas production in the short term.
The final consequences of the study will be clear when the study is completed, the agency informs
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