The Government has made the Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) (No. 2) Order 2025 under section 22 of the Petroleum Act 1987, following proposals from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) under section 24(2A). The instrument was made on 8 December 2025 and comes into force on 29 December 2025, 21 days after it was made.
The Order establishes a safety zone with a radius of 500 metres around each installation named in the Schedule, defined by latitude and longitude using the World Geodetic System 1984 (WGS84). The zones apply to waters covered by section 21(7) of the 1987 Act, including the UK territorial sea and areas designated under section 1(7) of the Continental Shelf Act 1964.
The Explanatory Note confirms that an automatic safety zone previously existed around the installation known as Galahad, which is now being dismantled. To maintain protection while dismantlement is completed, the automatic zone is replicated as a statutory 500‑metre safety zone created by this Order.
The instrument also removes four legacy safety zones by amending earlier Orders. It omits entries for Chestnut Field Well 22/2A-12 from the Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) (No. 2) Order 2007, Well 22-11x from the Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) (No. 3) Order 2007, Chestnut Field Well 22/2A-15 from the Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) (No. 2) Order 2008, and the Kingfisher BP1.1 Wellhead from the Offshore Installations (Safety Zones) (No. 2) Order 2022.
Section 23(1) of the Petroleum Act 1987 prohibits vessels-including hovercraft, submersible apparatus as defined in section 88(4) of the Merchant Shipping Act 1995, and installations in transit-from entering or remaining in a safety zone without HSE consent or in accordance with regulation 21H of the Offshore Installations and Pipeline Works (Management and Administration) Regulations 1995, as inserted by S.I. 2015/398.
Charting and operational information will be provided through the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO). Admiralty charts indicate the existence and, where scale permits, the position of safety zones; paper charts should be kept current via Notices to Mariners and electronic charts via appropriate updating services. Pending chart updates, UKHO broadcasts Radio Navigational Warnings.
Maritime safety information relevant to these zones is also issued via International Maritime Organization Global Maritime Distress and Safety System broadcasts under the World‑Wide Navigational Warning Service. This supports voyage planning, watchkeeping and dynamic routing decisions by bridge teams.
The Order specifies co‑ordinates in WGS84. Navigators should confirm GNSS and ECDIS datum settings before plotting the 500‑metre radius from the stated positions to prevent datum mismatch and positional error during route planning and monitoring.
For offshore operators, the statutory zones preserve a clear exclusion perimeter during decommissioning and associated subsea activity, reducing collision risk for workboats, ROV operations and passing traffic. Where access is necessary within a zone, operators and contractors will require HSE consent or must act under a permitted regulatory provision.
For shipping and fisheries, the entry restriction applies from 29 December 2025 for the installations named in the Schedule. Passage planning, gear deployment and anchoring decisions in proximity to the listed co‑ordinates should reflect the 500‑metre exclusion. The Department for Work and Pensions notes no significant impact assessment is produced, and the instrument is signed by the Minister of State, Stephen Timms.