It empowered the government to float off and sell shares in Britoil the upstream production side of the British National Oil Corporation.

The Act made miscellaneous provisions relating to the oil and gas industries concerning Petroleum Licences and Offshore Installations.

[1] The government had established the British National Oil Corporation (BNOC) in 1975 under the provision of the Petroleum and Submarine Pipe-lines Act 1975.

In the early 1980s Margaret Thatcher’s government saw a need to reduce the perceived inefficient state control of the energy sector, and to introduce a market-oriented system through privatization.

[2] From 1983, with a falling oil price, participation and trading ceased to be profitable for BNOC and the organisation was formally wound up on 27 March 1986.