Oil & Gas UK Opposes EC’s Offshore Safety Proposals

Oil & Gas UK says today that it is extremely concerned by the European Commission’s proposals for EU Regulation of offshore safety.

“The Commission’s reaction to the Elgin incident and the safe evacuation of all personnel following the gas leak at the installation only serves to reinforce the concern,” reads Oil & Gas UK’s statement.

Chief executive, Malcolm Webb, said: “Total’s swift and successful evacuation of all 238 people from the Elgin field area is to be applauded and demonstrates the effectiveness of emergency response arrangements and the safety culture of the UK offshore oil and gas industry.

To remind, the Comission, on 27 October 2011, released draft legislative proposals for offshore safety as it believes “the likelihood of a major offshore accident in European waters remains unacceptably high.” The EC’s aim is to change the situation where each national government is responsible for regulating offshore activities in their own waters. Its wish is to Centralise control of offshore health and safety and environmental protection in Europe.

The Regulation would apply to all of the European Union’s (EU) 27 member states, as well as Norway, which is not a member of the EU.

Malcom Webb continues: “While Oil & Gas UK will always support proper moves to improve safety standards, the Commission’s proposal to dismantle the UK’s exemplary safety regime is likely to have exactly the opposite effect. Moving overall responsibility for offshore safety to the EU, which has absolutely no experience or competence in the regulation of safety in the offshore oil and gas industry is, in our view, totally lacking in sense or balance. Offshore oil and gas safety will not be best served by the blanket ‘one size fits all’ regulatory approach now being advanced by the Commission. Furthermore, as welcome as offers of help always are, the Commission should be aware that the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) vessels to which they refer would be of no practical use in this incident, which is, in essence, a gas leak.

Oil & Gas UK thinks the the move by the EC would, if accepted, do more harm than good. It also describes the wording of the Regulation as “poorly drafted and clumsy”, and calls for a properly worded Directive rather than Regulation.

“Running the risk of damaging North Sea safety through the Commission’s proposed Offshore Safety Regulation is totally unnecessary and as far as we are aware is opposed by the Governments, industry bodies and trade unions in all of Europe’s leading oil and gas producing nations. The improvement of other safety regimes to bring them up to North West European standards would be best handled by a properly worded EU Directive which would also have the advantage of leaving the existing world class safety systems intact. If that route was adopted, the UK oil and gas industry would be happy to work closely with the Commission to help disseminate North Sea experience and good practice.”

[mappress]
Offshore Energy Today Staff, March 29, 2012; Image: Total