Environment Minister Röttgen: More safety for offshore drilling
On 27 October the European Commission presented its proposal for a regulation on safety of offshore oil and gas prospection, operation and production activities, thus taking concrete steps resulting from the Deep Water Horizon platform disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. In May 2010, eleven people died when the platform exploded. It is estimated that up to 780 million litres of crude oil spilled into the ocean, causing massive environmental damage, in part still prevailing today.
Federal Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen: "I very much welcome the proposal on safety of offshore oil and gas activities submitted by the EU Commission. Europe is one of the largest oil and gas prospecting regions worldwide. As drilling depths continue to increase, so, too, do the levels of danger inherent in the exploitation of these resources. It is vital to set appropriate standards."
The proposal for a regulation contains concise rules covering the entire offshore prospecting cycle. The proposal focuses for instance on rules regarding the granting of licences, emergency response, regional extension of the scope of environmental liability to all EU waters and international cooperation. It is geared towards harmonising at the highest level the very different standards of the different EU member states and to transferring European standards to international level in the medium term. On the occasion of the OSPAR conference in September 2010 in Bergen (Norway) Germany already strongly advocated the adoption of top technical safety standards.
Federal Environment Minister Norbert Röttgen: "I believe that the OSPAR recommendation adopted after tough negotiations in Bergen last year at the initiative of Germany was a building block for the proposal presented by the Commission today. I welcome in particular the EU Commission's regional approach to reach out beyond Europe's borders and in the medium term establish an agreed global safety architecture for offshore oil and gas prospection.