The rescue of seismic field data from exploration activities in the Danish North Sea

In 2009, the Danish Energy Agency informed the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland (GEUS) that a new legal act (Lov om fordring/Forældelsesloven) would become effective in 2011. The new act introduced a limitation period of three years on the government’s right to request data from licensees’ oil and gas activities in Denmark (www.retsinformation.dk 2007), and it became the catalyst for a major change in the standard procedure for licensees’ submission of seismic data related to exploration activities to GEUS. A consequence of the new legal act was that the Danish authorities would have to request data from the licensee (following the Consolidated Act of the Use of the Subsoil) from the licensee no later than three years after their generation or publication; otherwise the authorities would have no legal right to the data. It was emphasised by the Danish Energy Agency that GEUS would have to submit all requests for outstanding data to the licensees no later than 1 January 2011.