The pages on the North Sea Transition Authority (“NSTA”) website and the National Data Repository website (“the Websites”) are published by the North Sea Transition Authority, which is a business name of the Oil and Gas Authority, a limited company registered in England and Wales.
Cookies
Cookies are small files saved on your phone, tablet or computer when you visit a website. We use cookies to make this site work and collect information about how you use our service.
Necessary cookies
There are cookies which allow the NSTA to administer the Websites and make changes to the content. These cookies check if you are logged in or not so that the site can display information to you.
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| Azure Cloud Platform: ARRAffinitySameSite | This cookie is set by websites run on the Windows Azure cloud platform. It is used for load balancing to make sure the visitor page requests are routed to the same server in any browsing session. | When browser is closed |
| Azure Cloud Platform: ARRAffinity: ASLBSA | This cookie is set by websites run on the Windows Azure cloud platform. It is used for load balancing to make sure the visitor page requests are routed to the same server in any browsing session. | When browser is closed |
| Azure Cloud Platform: Azure Front Door (WAF) | Azure Front Door (WAF) | When browser is closed |
| __cf_bm | This cookie is used to distinguish between humans and bots. This is beneficial for the website, in order to make valid reports on the use of their website. | 2 hours, 31 minutes |
| _cfuvid | The _cfuvid cookie is used to allow the Cloudflare WAF to distinguish individual users who share the same IP address. Visitors who do not provide the cookie are likely to be grouped together and may not be able to access the site if there are many other visitors from the same IP address. | When browser is closed |
| _cc_cookieConsent | Used to save your given cookie consents between site visits. | 11 months, 30 days |
| _GRECAPTCHA | RECAPTCHA | When browser is closed |
| .AspNetCore.Mvc.CookieTempDataProvider | This cookie is used to keep temporary session data while you are on the site. | When browser is closed |
Visitor statistics
These cookies are used to collect statistics about visitors, which pages they visit, and what they do on the website
| Name | Purpose | Expires |
|---|---|---|
| _dd_s | Cookie used to group all events generated from a unique user session across multiple pages. It contains the current session ID, whether the session is excluded due to sampling, and the expiration date of the session. The cookie is extended for an extra 15 minutes every time the user interacts with the website, up to the maximum user session duration (4 hours). | 1 hour, 13 minutes |
| _ga_.* | Used to store and track visits on websites. | 1 year, 11 months |
| _ga | This cookie is set by Google Analytics to distinguish unique users and track visitor interactions with the website. It enables data collection on user behaviour, such as page views and session duration. This information helps the website owner understand user engagement and optimise the site. | 1 year, 11 months |
| ai_user | Cookie associated with the Microsoft Application Insights software, which collects statistical usage and telemetry information for apps built on the Azure cloud platform. This is a unique anonymous session identifier cookie. | 2 hours, 31 minutes |
| ai_session | Cookie associated with the Microsoft Application Insights software, which collects statistical usage and telemetry information for apps built on the Azure cloud platform. This is a unique user identifier cookie enabling counting of the number of users accessing the application over time. | 11 months, 30 days |
| vuid | Used to store the user's usage history. | 1 year, 11 months |
Disabling Cookies
If you wish to restrict or block cookies used by the NSTA, you can manage the use of cookies through the “Cookie preferences” option on the cookies banner which appears when you access the Websites and allows you to consent to, or reject, non-essential cookies.
Additionally, you can amend your browser settings. If you opt out of strictly necessary cookies it may restrict the functionality of that Website.
You can view your cookie code by clicking on the cookie to open it. Once you have opened the cookie you will see a string of text and numbers. The numbers are your identification card which can only be seen by you and the server that gave you the cookie.
Analytical or performance cookies
Both Websites use Google Analytics, a web analytics service provided by Google. Google Analytics uses cookies to help website operators analyse how websites are used. The information provided by the cookie (which includes your IP address) will be transmitted to and stored by Google on servers which may be outside the United Kingdom and the European Union.
Google uses the information provided by the cookie to evaluate your use of the Websites, compiling reports on the activities and providing other services relating to the activities of the Websites and internet usage. Google may also transfer this information to third parties, where it is required to do so by law, or to a third party, where the third-party processes information on behalf of Google.
Further information on Google Analytics can be found here.
Sharing Tools
Sharing tools allow you to share content from the NSTA website through social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
When you click on a sharing button, the social network site may place a cookie on your computer. This is a third-party cookie set by the site. If you have questions about the use of third party cookies, you should check the social network’s own cookie policy.
Policy reviewed and updated 4th July 2025