Facing the Challenge of Offshore Safety

Courtesy of Wintershall

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Facing the Safety Challenge Role of EU in offshore safety and environment Eero Ailio, Deputy Head of Unit Oil and Coal Malmรถ, 7 March 2011 This presentation reflects the views of its author but does not constitute a formal commitment on behalf of the European Commission.

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Roadmap for today

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Review of EU laws in offshore

» Health and safety » Environment » Licensing, product safety, disaster response

EU’s post Macondo agenda Good news and challenges in EU offshore EU’s response: planned actions in 2011 Concluding thoughts 2

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Health & Safety: Foundation by EU, house by Member States:

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TFEU Art 153: Improvement of working environment to protect workers‘ health and safety H&S Framework Dir. 89/391/EEC

Mineral extracting industries through drilling Dir. 92/91/EEC Minimum requirements 3

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Example: Health & Safety Document H&S document to demonstrate » Risks at work determined, assessed » Design, use and maintenance of work place and equipment are safe » Adequate precautions, management systems etc

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H&S Doc+:Safety Case (UK), Health and Safety Case (DK) 4

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Environment: Foundation by EU, house by Member States

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TFUE Art 191: i.a. protect environment, rational and prudent use of natural resources Environmental Liability 2004/35/EC (polluter pays damage to coastal waters) Waste dir. 2000/60/EC (oil by case law) Habitats & Birds dir.

Minimum requirements (Seveso II on Control of Major Hazards involving dangerous substances only for onshore) 5

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Licensing, Product safety, Disaster response: partially covered

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Hydrocarbon dir. 94/22/EC (nondiscriminatory prospection, exploration, production, basic financial & technical capability criterium) Machinery & Explosive atmosphere dir. (harmonised standards for equipment on non-mobile offshore installations) Civil Protection Mechanism, (EMSA tankers only) 6

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EU’s post Macondo agenda 2010

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Reviews on laws, industry and regulator practice, dialogues Communication „Facing the challenge of

the safety of offshore oil and gas activities”

Energy ministers conclusions European Parliament resolution 7

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Good news

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Improved HSE statistics Long period without major disaster Best practices found in EU jurisdictions Containment technologies being developed

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Main challenges

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Shift to “frontier� operations Ageing installations Structural changes in industry Fragmented regulation Access to/sharing of information Austerity vs regulators resources Compliance with rules (safety culture)

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Planned action (1/2)

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Promote use of best practices/ state of the art technology throughout EU

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Goal setting approach Sharing information/lessons learnt, peer review

Incentivize compliance and prevention

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Clear and robust liability regime Adequate controls, inspections Public and peer pressure through transparency

Improve authorisation procedures

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Demonstrate key elements of technical (incl environmental) and financial capacity to deal with eventual accidents

Improve emergency preparedness

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Contingency planning (company, national, EU) Transboundary information, consultation, safety management

International cooperation

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Barcelona Convention offshore protocol G-20, capacity building etc 10

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Planned action (2/2)

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Environmental Liability » Extend Environmental Liability Directive to all marine waters Emergency response » Extend EMSA’s scope to offshore response at least » Strengthen EU’s disaster response coordination Health and safety at work » Implement lessons from Deepwater Horizon and other relevant incidents » Cover people, plant and process safety Product safety » Consider standardisation mandates and treatment of mobile offshore units

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Next steps

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Consultations with stakeholders/drafting of the impact assessment Launching of public consultation Commission proposals

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Concluding comments Decarbonise yes but sustainable oil & gas needed for decades No room for complacency nor secrecy on HSE Industry’s main responsibility Public authorities to set objectives, control and incentivise compliance EU to fill regulatory gaps, promote state-ofthe-art practice and add transparency

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Thank you

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