Controversial plans for EU-wide safety rules for the oil and gas industry will go before members of the European Parliament today.
Despite opposition from North Sea operators, MEPs will rule on proposals for the European Commission to take control of offshore safety across the continent. Critics fear the move could cost the UK oil and gas sector billions of pounds, but the commission claims the risk of a major incident is unacceptably high.
Industry leaders, trade unions and both the Holyrood and Westminster governments have spoken out against the move, and last month Scottish MEPs tabled a series of amendments, including a proposal to change the regulation to a directive which would allow UK authorities to incorporate new rules into their own system.
Liberal Democrat MEP George Lyon said last night he hoped the European Parliament’s industry, research and energy committee would back the amendments. He said: “The safety regime for oil and gas drilling which covers the North Sea alone is one of the most robust in the world. This has been borne out of the hard lessons learned following the Piper Alpha disaster and the subsequent Cullen inquiry. The rigorous regime that has been implemented ever since is respected across the globe. But the unintended consequence of the commission’s proposals to introduce a one-size-fits-all safety regime will be to threaten these hard-won safety standards.”