131Grant of petroleum retention lease—offer document

131 Grant of petroleum retention lease—offer document

If—

(a) an application for a petroleum retention lease has been made under section 130; and

(b) the Minister is satisfied that—

(i) the area comprised in the block, or any one or more of the blocks, specified in the application contains petroleum; and

(ii) the recovery of petroleum from that area is not, at the time of the application, commercially viable but is likely to become commercially viable within 15 years after that time—

the Minister must give the applicant a written notice (called an offer document) telling the applicant that the Minister is prepared to grant the applicant a petroleum retention lease over the block or blocks as to which the Minister is satisfied as mentioned in paragraph (b).

1 Section 255 sets out additional requirements for offer documents (for example, a requirement that an offer document must contain a summary of conditions).

2 If the applicant breaches a requirement under section 254 to provide further information, the Joint Authority may refuse to give the applicant an offer document—see section 254(3).