A series of unfriendly for business procedures in the oil and gas sector can be canceled this week. The draft law #3096, the adoption of which has been long awaited by the market, appears on the agenda of the Verkhovna Rada. This draft law simplifies the procedure for land use, abolishes the need to obtain a mining license and regulates the legal status of oil and gas construction facilities.
“Currently, the regulatory framework of this sector is outdated and burdensome for business. As a result, the energy industry can not be fully developed and increase the oil and gas production volumes, primarily for domestic use,” the deputy head of the Better Regulation Delivery Office Svitlana Kolomiyets said.
Key changes:
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Subsoil users can start the extraction on timely basis, since the time to obtain land plots for oil and gas extraction will be reduced from 20 to 3 months.
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Ensuring free access to wells by establishing the right of servitude.
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Abolishing the need to obtain mining licenses, which is a Soviet archaism and does not have any controlling functions in the oil and gas industry. Instead, the subsoil use will be carried out on the basis of special permits issued by the state with the approval of local communities.
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Introducing a single approval to remove and transfer of soils, which will significantly reduce the time costs of businesses. Today, obtaining a particular permit lasts about six months, although preserving the top soil was approved earlier, when the land has been transferred for use.
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A well is not an urban construction object. Currently, due to a lack of clear definition of the status of wells, local authorities require registering wells as urban construction objects with mailing address assignment that lasts more than one year. According to international practice, wells are temporary facilities.
The Better Regulation Delivery Office hopes that this extremely important initiative will be approved and the market will have effective and transparent regulatory rules and all preconditions for development and investment attraction