By Martin Banks - 28th March 2011
It's important that best practices, for example from the North Sea, are shared and implemented elsewhere to prevent disasters occurring
Vicky Ford
A parliamentary hearing was told that a Gulf-style oil spill in European waters could have "catastrophic" consequences on the environment.
An expert told the hearing on Tuesday that the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico had highlighted the "extreme" dangers of offshore oil drilling.
Nicolas Fournier, of Oceana, the international marine protection organisation, warned that a similar disaster in European waters would be "much worse" even than the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
He called for an urgent review of the EU legislation on offshore oil and gas installations, saying, "This disaster in the Gulf has given the EU the opportunity to address the gaps and loopholes in current legislation on offshore oil activities."
His call came on the day it was revealed that federal prosecutors in the United States are considering whether to pursue manslaughter charges against BP managers for decisions made before the Gulf of Mexico oil well explosion last year that killed 11 workers and caused the biggest offshore spill in US history.
Fournier said, "The Deepwater spill was not an isolated incident. The disaster illustrated that offshore drilling is extremely dangerous and also extremely dirty.
"Unfortunately, the EU does not have enough domestic oil resources to cut its dependence on oil imports. In order to be truly energy independent we need to end our addiction to oil."
He told the meeting that, at EU level, the current regulation of offshore installations is "severely lacking" and this highlighted the need for a review of current legislation.
Any such review, he argued, should include the EU's "contingency plans and emergency response" to a Gulf-style disaster.
The level of 'currents emissions' from oil rigs should also be reduced, he said, and there should be "independent supervision" of oil and gas installations.
The hearing in parliament, entitled 'The safety of offshore oil and gas in European waters', was designed to draw lessons for the EU from the Gulf disaster.
It was hosted by UK MEP Vicky Ford, the assembly's rapporteur on the safety of offshore oil drilling.
She said, "The hearing today has clearly shown the magnitude of such a disaster were one to happen in a closed sea.
"The impact could be very different and even more tragic than such an occurrence in an open sea."
Ford emphasised that the hearing, which included contributions from regulators and operators from across the North and Mediterranean seas, was important for sharing best practice on safety and regulation.
"It's important that best practices, for example from the North Sea, are shared and implemented elsewhere to prevent disasters occurring.
"In addition, consensus also emerged among all parties that containment and capping equipment needs to be readily available to quickly shut down any facility should a spill occur."
