Vicky Ford MEP warns EC: don't put oil industry safety at risk
Posted, October 26, 2011 @ 12:00
European Commissioners have been warned not jeopardise safety in the UK offshore oil and gas industry by sweeping away our existing world class standards.
Vicky Ford MEP, whose recent report on offshore safety was adopted by the European Parliament, said: "The Deepwater Horizon spill in the Gulf of Mexico was a catastrophe that should never have happened and we certainly do not want to see a repeat in our waters. Investigations into the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico found that 'tick box' type legislation was a key factor that lead to mistakes and inadequate safety procedures.
"The UK has more offshore oil than the rest of the EU put together and the regulatory framework in the North Sea has been held up as a world class example of best practice. It is appropriate that the EU has based much of its proposal on UK and North Sea models."
The Commission is due to make an announcement on offshore safety tomorrow (Thursday). There are fears that the new regulation, while taking onboard a number of North Sea best practices, will force the UK to repeal a substantial amounts of existing offshore safety legislation and replace it with a new EU framework.
"A new EU regulation could force mature regimes to have to repeal their current frameworks and replace them with EU rules, potentially destabilising established and proven frameworks," said Mrs Ford. "We could be walking into a legal nightmare in an industry where the results of bad legislation can be catastrophic.
"The Commission clearly wants to improve standards across the EU and it sensible that they have opted to introduce a site-specific safety case approach, as no two oil wells are the same. However focusing only on 'major' hazards as the commission suggests is already a clear example of how the proposal could undermoine UK best practice where all potential environmental impacts must be considered. For example, a series of small discharges and emissions in an environmentally sensitive area could have a major impact."
"We do need good regulation and implementation and inspections but it must also be made absolutely clear that operators are responsible and liable for any damage they cause, the buck stops with the operators and nobody else."