The licensee will be required to comply with any environmental obligations set out in the National Environmental Management Act. Further, there are specific environmental regulations contained within Section 49 of the Petroleum Act.
Under Section 49 of the Petroleum Act a licensee is required to complete an environmental impact assessment (EIA) before the Minister will issue the licence or permit. The EIA must, among other things, establish baseline information concerning the environment of the areas that are, or may be, affected by the petroleum operations to determine what protection, remedial measures and environmental management requirements. Note that whilst the Petroleum Act requires that an EIA is undertaken prior to the issuance of a licence, the Model PEPLA has waived this requirement and instead the EIA must be undertaken within 180 days of the Minister sending notice to the licensee.
(b) Is an EIA required before extracting or processing onshore or offshore oil and gas?
Yes, see above.
Note that for the purposes of Block A1, BP has already undertaken an environmental impact assessment, and therefore it is likely that this requirement will be waived for the successful bidder or that the successful bidder will be able to use the previous EIA for its own purposes and only make amendments where required.
(c) Are flare and vent regulations in place?
There are no specific regulations in relation to flaring, however, the Model PEPLA states the Licensee shall not flare any petroleum for the duration of the Licence, including during the testing of any reservoir or producing interval without the express written consent of the Commissioner unless it is required to do so in an emergency situation.
If the licensee does conduct any flaring, then it must be done in accordance with industry best practice and any request submitted shall include an evaluation of reasonable alternatives to flaring
