North Sea industry in uproar over EU proposal

NORTH Sea industry leaders have condemned European Union proposals to set stringent new rules on offshore drilling in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Günther Oettinger, the European commissioner for energy, unveiled proposals to bring in a raft of regulations that would effectively relinquish regulatory control of the UK Continental Shelf to the EU in future oil and gas drilling operations.

He claimed the regulations, aimed at preventing a repeat of the catastrophic Gulf of Mexico oil spill in European waters, would ensure that the highest safety standards already in place in some member states would be followed across Europe.

However, Malcolm Webb, chief executive of Oil and Gas UK, the pan-industry trade body, attacked the plans.

He said: “Oil and Gas UK is opposed to blanket EU regulation of this country’s offshore oil and gas industry, which operates under a fully fit-for-purpose and robust regulatory regime.

“Relinquishing regulatory control to the EU, which has no established competence in this matter and where only three out of the 27 member states have an offshore oil and gas industry of real scale, risks undermining safety and environmental performance here in the UK.”

Mr Webb added: “The EU could take other action, for example through a directive as opposed to a regulation, to bring member states outside the North Sea up to the high standards achieved in this area, but blanket regulation of the type we understand is now being proposed will not even achieve that end.

“Instead, it will serve to confuse and complicate.”