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Post date: Aug 11, 2010 3:39:41 PM
Deepsea operations in Europe
Although BP has finally managed to stem the oil spill
from its leaking Macondo well, the repercussions of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico will haunt the oil industry for a long time to come. In Europe, Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger last month issued a call for a freeze on deepsea operations until the causes of the BP oil spill have been determined. National governments seem divided: the UK government has said it is satisfied with its own regulatory regime, whereas the Italian government has called for a ban on all new deepsea drilling in the Mediterranean.
At this moment, Brussels has little authority in matters of offshore drilling, which is mostly left to the member states. However, a political battle is heating up as Oettinger is considering whether to create a new European regulatory framework to ‘control’ national regulators. Oettinger will discuss his proposals at a meeting of the council of energy ministers on September 6.
The question is, how significant are Europe’s deepsea oil and gas operations anyway? As energy editor Uchenna Izundu has found out: not too significant as yet. But investment in European deepsea oil and gas production looks set to grow considerably – if the regulators do not throw a spanner in the works.
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