Commentary on Sections Part 4: Miscellaneous and Supplemental Section 189: International agreements relating to pipelines and offshore installations
466.Section 189 provides the power for Her Majesty to modify the Petroleum Act 1998 (c.17) by Order in Council to give effect to international agreements relating in whole or in part to the construction, operation, use, decommissioning or abandonment of a pipeline or offshore installation.
467.The power includes the power to provide for provision made by or under the Petroleum Act 1998 to have effect in relation to areas outside the UK and its waters and to apply to individuals and to bodies corporate whether or not they are British citizens or incorporated under the law of a part of the UK.
468.A modification could reflect the fact that an international agreement might provide that disputes over access to a pipeline on the UK Continental Shelf and the Continental Shelf of another State could either be the subject of co-determination by the UK and the other State in accordance with English law or the law of the other State or fall for sole determination by the UK or the other State. Section 17F of the Petroleum Act 1998 (c.17) currently gives the Secretary of State the power to make such a determination in relation to a pipeline in UK waters.