Europe considers drill ban following BP gulf oil spill

BP PLC’s oil spill crisis in the US Gulf of Mexico has prompted offshore safety regulators in Europe to examine the adequacy of their own response procedures to ensure a similar disaster does not happen there.

The upstream sector’s reputation has been damaged, and regaining society’s trust in delivering safe and reliable supplies of fossil fuels is going to be incredibly difficult. Those supplies are a major source of the energy mix, and increasingly operations are going to be in deep water and in frontier areas.

European industry organizations criticized as overreaction remarks by Gunther Oettinger, EU Energy Commissioner, who in mid-July said any responsible government would freeze new deepwater drilling permits in light of the BP spill. Oettinger said the energy commission is analyzing existing regulations and would issue new policy this autumn.

A spokeswoman for the North Sea Offshore Authorities Forum (NSOAF) told OGJ that its eight members, which are safety regulators from around the North Sea, will conduct a joint audit related to drilling activities. The forum will share information about challenges and initiating possible changes in regulations.

Michael Engell-Jensen, OGP’s new executive director at the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP), said: “Through our committees and task forces—and we might well have some dedicated groups depending on the findings of the inquiries—we can help to identify and spread the best practices that will help prevent spills like this happening in the future.”

In May OGP convened a meeting with Oettinger and Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response Kristalina Giorgieva to discuss what the oil and gas industry was doing to manage its operational risks in Europe.

Charles Bowen, who was OGP’s executive director at the time, said that industry had round-the-clock availability of Oil Spill Response Ltd., a cooperative of 112 oil and gas companies based in the UK. He also explained the workings of the Offshore Pollution Liability Association, which ensures that claims for pollution damage are met and the cost of remedial measures reimbursed in the event of a spill off Northwest Europe.

Bowen said there was the Oil Pollution Preparedness & Response Convention (OPRC), under the auspices of the United Nations International Maritime Organization, which requires operators to have oil pollution emergency plans coordinated with national systems.

Oil Gas Journal