UKCS offshore petroleum licences (WGS84)

A Licence is a geographically defined area for prospecting, exploration or extraction of petroleum resources. The North Sea Transition Authority's licensing system covers oil and gas within Great Britain, its territorial sea and on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). The Petroleum Act 1998 vests all rights to the nation's petroleum resources in the Crown, but the NSTA can grant licences that confer exclusive rights to 'search and bore for and get' petroleum. Licences fall into several categories. The principal distinctions are between onshore and offshore licences, and between exploration licences (which cover exploration alone) and production licences (which cover both exploration and production). The NSTA has discretion in the granting of licences to help maximise the economic recovery of the UK's oil and gas resources. Licence data is represented by 3 different datasets; Licences, Licence Blocks and Sub Areas. Licence polygons represent the whole licence and have one polygon per licence. Licenced Blocks and Sub areas represent finer divisions of these licences and may have many polygons per licence. Most Licenced Blocks are split with several sub areas, sometimes with differing operators and beneficiaries.许可证（Licence）是为开展石油资源普查、勘探或开采而划定的地理区域。北海过渡管理局（North Sea Transition Authority, NSTA）的许可证制度覆盖大不列颠境内、其领海以及英国大陆架（UK Continental Shelf, UKCS）范围内的油气资源。1998年《石油法》将英国所有石油资源的全部权属划归王室，但北海过渡管理局（NSTA）可颁发许可证，赋予持证人“普查、钻探并开采”石油的专属权利。许可证可划分为多个类别，核心区分维度包括陆上与海上许可证，以及仅涵盖单一勘探活动的勘探许可证与同时覆盖勘探与开采的生产许可证。北海过渡管理局在许可证颁发环节享有自由裁量权，以最大化英国油气资源的经济采收率。许可证相关数据包含三类独立数据集：许可证（Licences）数据集、许可证区块（Licence Blocks）数据集与子区域（Sub Areas）数据集。许可证多边形（Licence polygons）用于表征完整的许可证范围，每个许可证对应一个多边形。许可证区块与子区域则是上述许可证的更精细划分，单个许可证可对应多个多边形。多数许可证区块会被拆分为多个子区域，部分子区域可能拥有不同的作业方与受益方。