Guidance

Decommissioning standalone onshore oil and gas wells: RPS 254

Environment Agency regulatory position on decommissioning standalone onshore oil and gas wells drilled before 1 October 2013.

From:
Environment Agency
Published
28 January 2022
Last updated
19 March 2025 — See all updates

Applies to England

Documents

Decommissioning standalone onshore oil and gas wells: RPS 254

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Details

When decommissioning a standalone onshore oil and gas well, this regulatory position statement (RPS) does not change your legal requirement to:

  • get an environmental permit
  • comply with other relevant legislation

However, if you meet the requirements in the RPS, the Environment Agency will not normally take enforcement action if you do not have a permit for a mining waste operation to:

  • manage extractive waste from decommissioning oil and gas wells
  • carry out monitoring

The regulatory position does not apply to any other legal requirements.

Updates to this page

Published 28 January 2022
Last updated 19 March 2025 + show all updates

  1. Extended the next review date for this regulatory position statement to 31 December 2027.

  2. First published.

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