Oettinger due to brief EU

Published 09.07.2010 14:42:05 by John Bradbury

European Energy Commissioner Gunther Oettinger is due to provide a debrief to his colleagues in the European Council early next week to discuss his proposal for a North Sea drilling ban.

A European Commission source told Offshore247.com that the EU Commissioner is due to provide the debriefing session next Tuesday.

He is also due to update the European Union Council after a meeting with major offshore oil companies on 14 July.

Commissioner Oettinger called for the drilling ban during a plenary session of the European Parliament on 7 July, when he talked about what he called: “.... the potential risks linked with offshore oil exploration and extraction.”

In a text of his speech obtained by Offshore247.com, the Commissioner spoke of meeting representatives of companies with offshore oil production in Europe back in May to discuss responses to a questionnaire over their safety policies.

Although Commissioner Oettinger noted offshore safety is covered by a number of complex pieces of legislation, he questioned if all these regulations provide complete enough coverage for risk management and prevention, and for post-damage follow up. He suggested the answer to that is not straightforward.

“On the question of liability, 'polluter pays' is the underlying principle of our environmental liability system,” the Commissioner said in his speech to the EU plenary session. “Overall, legislation applicable in Europe built on it serves us well, addressing a wide range of risks and challenges associated with this kind of industrial activity.”

But he went on: “However, we have also seen that there is scope for improvement. Existing legislation could be made clearer and up to date. Be assured that, if proven necessary, we will not hesitate to come with legislative initiatives in the coming months.”

And in calling for a temporary drilling ban he said: “...utmost caution must be exercised for the moment with respect to new drillings. As said, given the current circumstances, any responsible government would at present practically freeze new permits for drilling with extreme parameters and conditions. This can mean de facto a moratorium on new drills until the causes of the accident are known and corrective measures are taken for such frontier operations as the ones carried out by the Deepwater Horizon.”

He has also proposed a pan-European system of regulatory control for offshore drilling operations, a “controller of the controllers” regime, as he described it.

And he said there should be more transparency in the safety regime: “We need a new model that helps to foster synergies, strengthens effective mutual cooperation, and that establishes a 'Control the controllers' system. We must increase transparency about the safety performance of the industry and the vigilance of public authorities supervising the industry. Citizens have the right to know and to have access to all pertinent information. Transparency is a strong ally in ensuring maximum compliance and precaution.”

Better protection for biodiversity is also needed, he said, stating: “We see room for improvement in several areas, including potentially the consolidation of the territorial applicability of the existing environmental legislation and its extension to more fully cover the issues of biodiversity and secondary damage.”

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