Consultation on draft supplementary EIA guidance

On 20 June 2024 the Supreme Court issued its judgment in relation to the appeal case R (on the application of Finch on behalf of the Weald Action Group) (Appellant) v Surrey County Council and others (Respondents) (‘the Finch case’). The Supreme Court upheld the appeal, concluding the Council’s decision to grant planning permission for the oil development was unlawful because the end-use atmospheric emissions from burning the extracted oil were not assessed as part of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).  Whilst the facts of the Finch case related to an application for planning permission for an onshore oil extraction facility, the judgment has implications for the application of The Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Unloading and Storage (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2020, which implement the EIA Directive in relation to certain offshore projects. It means that end-use emissions from the burning of extracted hydrocarbons need to be assessed as part of EIAs undertaken in relation to offshore oil and gas activities. As a result, on 29 August the government announced it would be developing updated EIA guidance to help offshore operators understand the practical implications of the judgment.   

We are now consulting on this draft guidance, which can be found below.  The draft guidance will supplement OPRED’s existing EIA guidance (we are not consulting on the existing guidance, which is unchanged in light of the Finch judgment). When the draft guidance is finalised after consultation operators will therefore be expected to refer to both documents as necessary when seeking to understand what is expected of them under The Offshore Oil and Gas Exploration, Production, Unloading and Storage (Environmental Impact Assessment) Regulations 2020.  Set out below alongside the draft guidance is a consultation document.  This explains the purpose of the consultation and how interested parties can respond to it.  It also includes a number of questions in relation to which we are particularly interested in respondents’ views.