Commentary on provisions of Act Section 47: Onshore petroleum
This section amends Section D2 (oil and gas) in Part 2 of Schedule 5 to the Scotland Act 1998 to give the Scottish Parliament competence to legislate for the granting and regulation of licences to search and bore for and get petroleum within the Scottish onshore area. The power to set the consideration payable for such licences is not included in these exceptions and remains reserved. The Scottish Parliament is also given competence to legislate for access to such land for the purposes of searching, boring for and getting petroleum under such licences within the Scottish onshore area.
	The Scottish onshore area is defined in line with the baseline established by any Order in Council under section 1(1)(b) of the Territorial Sea Act 1987 (extension of territorial sea). "Petroleum" is defined in line with the definition of "Petroleum" as provided for in section 1 of the Petroleum Act 1998. For a given licence, the definition of onshore Scotland is that which applied at the time of granting of that licence.