National governments have control over the oil and gas in their territories. They determine the areas in which companies can search for and produce these resources.
When granting licenses for these areas, they must follow a set of common EU rules to ensure fair competition, which are set out in the EU Directive on the conditions for granting and using authorisations for prospection, exploration and production of hydrocarbons (94/22/EC).
Notices inviting applications for licencing are published in the Official Journal of the European Union, C series.