Mediterranean countries cannot be naive about the industrial risks around oil and gas exploration and production, delegates at the Offshore Mediterranean Conference (OM
C) in Ravenna were warned this morning.
The region, which comprises EU member states as well as non-member states, is having to deal with both how to incorporate new EU regulations around offshore safety into domestic legislation as well as how to co-operate with neighboring countries (including non-member states) in a region which has multiple international boundaries offshore in close proximity.
Getting offshore safety right - or not - could have significant consequences, on human life, the environment and financially, said Marcelo Masera, Head of the Energy Security Unit in the Institute for Energy and Transport of the European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC).
This, he told OMC delegates in a special workshop this morning (26 March), is against a backdrop which, according to multiple energy scenarios, will see hydrocarbons continuing to play a key role in Europe for a long time.
The Macondo disaster in 2010 was an alarm bell which cannot be ignored, he said.
"Macondo was an alarm bell to the serious consequences (of an accident offshore) - casualties, environmental issues and financial consequences. It is not just a technical issue. This could hurt industry and all these energy scenarios," said Masera.
"Providing a solution is not easy. There is no silver bullet. The point is creating the right balance between industrial legislative measures that can ensure the best possible efforts are taken.
"In the EU, we have to deal with this. Eighteen months ago the European Commission proposed a directive that member states have until 19 July to transpose into legislation. News about progress and difficulties in this transposition will be heard then."
Measures including splitting licensing and regulatory functions, integrating environmental protection measures into the safety case, common forms for incident reporting and measuring safety performance, etc. Key for the Mediterranean region is intra-country co-operation. An EU forum has been set up to discuss issues and share best practice.
"There will be challenges implementing this. There will be challenges for many member states. They will have to develop their internal capacity. They will have to collaborate. They will have to ensure the measures are implemented and that they are not working in isolation. In the Mediterranean this is a crucial issue."
"We are dealing with complex industrial systems. Any technical system fails. We cannot be naive on this. The preventative analysis and learning from this is a key issue. The position that this cannot happen to us is unacceptable. This has to be tackled from the beginning."
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