Oil and Gas Authority

The Oil and Gas Authority’s role is to regulate, influence and promote the UK oil and gas industry in order to maximise the economic recovery of the UK’s oil and gas resources.

We seek to be a progressive and highly effective authority, doing all we can to attract investment and with that jobs, helping to anchor valuable skills and expertise in this country. The OGA has an important role to support and influence the UK's transition to a  low carbon economy.

Created as one of the key recommendations of Sir Ian Wood’s 2014 Review of the UKCS, the OGA became an Executive Agency on 1 April 2015, which created operational independence from DECC (now the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) to the fullest extent possible within the established boundaries, and gave us direct accountability for exploration and development decisions and approvals.

On 1 October 2016 we became a government company, limited by shares under the Companies Act 2006, with the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy the sole shareholder.

The OGA is largely funded by an industry levy introduced on 1 October 2015. We are headquartered in Aberdeen with another office in London.