Communication from the Minister for Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands pursuant to Article 3(2) of Directive 94/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the conditions for granting and using authorisations for the prospection, exploration and production of hydrocarbons

2012/C 70/08

The Minister for Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation hereby gives notice that an application has been received for authorisation to prospect for hydrocarbons in an area known as Opmeer.

The area covered by the application is in the province of North Holland and is bounded by the straight lines joining the vertex pairs A-B, B-C, C-D, D-E, E-F, F-G, G-H, H-I, I-J, J-K, K-L, L-M, M-N and A-N.

The coordinates of the vertices referred to above are as follows:

The above vertices are defined by their geographical coordinates, calculated according to the National Triangulation System (RD, Rijks Driehoeksmeting).

On the basis of this description of the boundaries, the surface area is 229,0 km2.

With reference to the Directive mentioned in the introduction and Article 15 of the Mining Act (Mijnbouwwet) (Bulletin of Acts and Decrees (Staatsblad) 2002, No 542), the Minister for Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation hereby invites interested parties to submit a competing application for authorisation to prospect for hydrocarbons in the area bounded by the above vertices and coordinates.

The Minister for Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation is the competent authority for the granting of authorisations. The criteria, conditions and requirements referred to in Articles 5(1), 5(2) and 6(2) of the above mentioned Directive are set out in the Mining Act (Bulletin of Acts and Decrees 2002, No 542).

Applications may be submitted during the 13 weeks following the publication of this notice in the Official Journal of the European Union and should be sent to:

Applications received after the expiry of this period will not be considered.

A decision on the applications will be taken not later than 12 months after this period has expired.

Further information can be obtained by calling Mr E. J. Hoppel on the following telephone number: +31 703797762.