EN Official Journal of the European Union C 79/22

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 79/08

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 Midden-Nederland.

The area covered by the application is in the provinces of Flevoland, Gelderland, Limburg, North Brabant, North Holland and Utrecht and is delimited as follows:

(a) by the straight lines between the vertex pairs A-B, B-C, C-D, D-E, E-F, F-G and G-H;

(b) then by the straight line from vertex H through vertex I to the point where it intersects with the national border;

(c) then by the national border from the point of intersection specified at (b) to the point where it intersects with a straight line from vertex K through vertex J;

(d) then by the straight line from the point of intersection specified at (c) through vertex J to vertex K;

(e) then by the straight lines between vertex pairs K-L, L-M and M-A.

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

Vertex X Y A 126392,00 486273,00 B 137589,00 482260,00 C 136922,00 488048,00 D 148570,29 495627,84 E 153370,00 499000,00 F 158502,00 503260,00 G 192501,00 484001,00 H 189000,00 460500,00 I 204854,00 434793,00 J 194033,00 417724,00 K 161000,00 425200,00 L 142442,42 449063,01 M 120466,60 467660,50

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 area, the surface area is 4 118 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 Article 5(1) and (2) and Article 6(2) of the abovementioned 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:

De minister van Economische Zaken, Landbouw en Innovatie ter attentie van de heer P. Jongerius, directie Energiemarkt ALP A/562 Bezuidenhoutseweg 30 Postbus 20101 2500 EC Den Haag NEDERLAND

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.