The OGA aims to make as much information and data publicly available as soon as possible. Under current regulations data is usually available for release once a period of confidentiality (normally 3 or 4 years, depending on the licence) has passed.

Data is mainly released through agents of the OGA (the Data Release Agents or DRA’s) who have non-exclusive agreements with the OGA, giving them access to the data.

As a result of the Energy Act 2016 the OGA is reviewing various aspects of reporting, retention and publication of licence data. This will be the subject of consultation with the industry in due course.

If you have any questions about data access or issues relating to Information and Samples in general please contact in the first instance, Phil Harrison, Head of Technical Data,  phil.harrison@ogauthority.co.uk.

Confidentiality Periods

For the purposes of data release, the confidentiality period begins on the well completion date for well data, and the end of the calendar year when acquisition was completed for seismic data. The relevant confidentiality periods are as follows:

• data acquired under offshore licences awarded up to and including the 19th round: four years
• data acquired under offshore licences awarded in the 20th and subsequent rounds: three years (or on full licence relinquishment)
• data acquired under onshore licences awarded up to and including the 11th round: five years
• data acquired under onshore licences awarded in the 12th and subsequent rounds: four years
• spec seismic data acquired under offshore exploration licences: guidelines are in place (subject to an on-going review) for a 10-year confidentiality period

Recent well releases

• 139th Well Release List (July 2016) (MS Excel, 18KB)
• 138th Well Release List (April 2016) (MS Word, 36KB)
• 137th Well Release List (January 2016) (MS Excel, 12KB)