Plans for tough European rules on oil spills come under attack

UK and other governments oppose EU regulations aimed at preventing oil leaks at deepwater drilling operations

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Fiona Harvey, environment correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 19 April 2011 21.04 BST
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European measures aimed at preventing a spill in EU waters are under attack. Photograph: Gerald Herbert/AP
European plans to crack down hard on oil companies with a series of measures to prevent a spill in EU waters like that of BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster, are under attack from the UK and other national governments, the Guardian has learned.

The measures, backed by the EU's energy chief Günter Oettinger, require companies to use a higher standard of equipment, pay for damage for which they are not liable now, and prove they have enough funds to clear up after any accident, before they can be licensed to drill.

The rules will be brought forward in July, and would apply to new and controversial deepwater drilling operations being embarked upon by several firms, such as Chevron at its site west of Shetland, and Cairn Energy in Greenland.

A year ago on Wednesday, an explosion at BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 people and caused the biggest offshore oil spill in US history, wreaking devastation in the Gulf.

Green campaigners welcomed the tougher stance from the European commission, but warned that the proposals were under attack. Richard George, an oil campaigner for Greenpeace, said: "If these regulations pass they'll be a good first step towards ensuring that oil companies are held responsible for their spills. The concern right now is that national governments, with the UK at the forefront, are working hard to water down these proposals at the behest of the oil companies. David Cameron needs to get behind efforts to prevent a Deepwater Horizon-style disaster in European waters."

One proposal, which would extend the EU regulations to the overseas operations of European offshore oil firms, is the subject of a sustained attack. If this rule had been in place last year BP's Deepwater Horizon drilling would have been subject to EU safety standards. Greenpeace said it was vital that this was retained.

A European commission source said that at first officials tried to involve oil executives in talks on the proposals but had been rebuffed by the companies, which insisted the Deepwater Horizon spill was solely due to shoddy practices. The commission has now decided to go ahead with the crackdown without input from the industry.

The oil industry is mounting a rearguard action, to get the rules changed before they can be brought into effect.

The planned rules must be approved by member states and the European parliament before they can come into operation, a process likely to take at least two years. But lobbying from the energy industry has been intense even before the proposals are scheduled to be formally brought forward, in July.

Under the commission plans, tough rules would apply to all drilling sites within 200 miles of the coast. Previous piecemeal EU attempts to regulate oil drilling extended only to wells within 12 miles of shore, a limit that would have exempted BP's Deepwater Horizon operation. The rules would cover the boundary with international waters where the legal standing of wells is unclear, and mean virtually all offshore oil drilling operations within the EU being covered.

Oil companies would have to prove they could pay for any damage caused, either through an obligation to buy sufficient insurance, or by paying into a fund. They would also have to submit detailed plans on dealing deal with any accident.

Mobile oil rigs, like BP's Deepwater Horizon floating platform, would also be covered, with new tough rules on the kind of equipment to be used, such as blowout preventers, the failure of which was a key factor in the BP catastrophe. At present, laws requiring a high standard of safety equipment are limited to fixed rigs.

Companies would have to record any incidents, however minor, and notify the EU, with a description of the problem and and what was done to solve it. At present, companies can conceal such incidents.

The disclosure rules will help regulators gain an early insight – for instance, if there is a pattern of incidents across a company's sites, that could indicate problems with that firm's practices.