Over the last few years, the UKCS has seen a marked increase in mergers and acquisitions (M&A). The OGA has continued to hear from industry about long or delayed approvals from third parties in M&A transactions, resulting in buyers and sellers changing their approach to M&A on the UKCS.

The OGA conducted a series of interviews to understand better the issues at the heart of this “transaction drag”. The OGA's web page provides a summary of industry’s views on this topic – what behaviour is reasonable and what behaviour is unreasonable.

This summary of industry’s observations does not create any regulatory burden, but reinforces the importance of adhering to the Transaction Best Practice (TBP) guidance created by industry.