Licensed Blocks represent geographically defined areas for prospecting, exploration, or extraction of petroleum resources on the UK Continental Shelf. The North Sea Transition Authority manages this licensing system under the Petroleum Act 1998, granting exclusive rights to search and get petroleum. The data includes three related datasets: Licences, Licence Blocks, and Sub Areas, with finer divisions for blocks and sub areas.
Use Cases
- Map exclusive petroleum exploration rights based on the licensing system described
- Analyze the division of licence areas into blocks and sub areas based on the dataset structure
- Study the geographic distribution of oil and gas resources on the UK Continental Shelf based on the described licensing categories
Strengths
- Data is provided in multiple geospatial formats (KML, GEOJSON)
- Last updated on 2025-11-16 17:57:12.616000
- Description details the legal framework (Petroleum Act 1998) and managing authority (NSTA)
Limitations
- Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
- Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
Provenance
- Source
- Government Digital Service
- Freshness
- Last updated 2025-11-16 17:57:12.616000
- Geography
- UK Continental Shelf, Great Britain, territorial sea