24Surrender of licence

24 Surrender of licence (1) A licensee may, at any time, by instrument in writing served on the Minister, apply for consent to surrender his licence as to the whole or a part of the pipeline in respect of which it is in force. (2) Subject to subsection (3), the Minister shall not give his consent to the surrender of a licence unless the licensee: (a) has paid all amounts payable by him under this Act or has made arrangements which are satisfactory to the Minister for the payment of those amounts; (b) has complied with the conditions to which the licence is subject and with the provisions of this Act and the Regulations; (c) has, where the Minister, by instrument in writing served on the licensee, required him to do so, caused to be published in such newspapers as are specified in the instrument, notice of the licensee's intention to apply for consent to surrender the Energy Pipelines Act 1981 28 licence as to the whole or a part of the pipeline in respect of which it is in force and has, in that notice, specified a date, not being earlier than 28 days after publication of the notice, on or before which any person having an interest in land in the licence area may, by instrument in writing served on the Minister, submit any matter that he wishes the Minister to consider in connection with the application for the consent; and (d) has, to the extent that he is required to do so by, and to the satisfaction of, the Minister, removed or caused to be removed from the area to which the proposed surrender relates, property brought into that area by any person engaged or concerned in the operations authorized by the licence, or has made arrangements that are satisfactory to the Minister for the removal or disposal of that property. (3) Where a licensee has not complied with the conditions to which this licence is subject and with the provisions of this Act and the Regulations, the Minister may consent to an application under subsection (1) if he is satisfied that, although the licensee has not so complied, special circumstances exist that justify his consent to the application. (4) Where the Minister consents to an application under subsection (1), the applicant may, by instrument in writing served on the Minister, surrender the licence accordingly.