EUROPEAN COMMISSION Brussels, 25.6.2020 COM(2020) 263 final REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION Annual Report on the Safety of Offshore Oil and Gas Operations in the European Union for the Year 2018



















Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION 2. LEGAL BASIS 3. METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM MEMBER STATES 4. THE OFFSHORE SECTOR FOR OIL AND GAS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION 4.1 Installations and production 4.2 Offshore inspections, investigations, enforcement actions and regulatory framework 5. INCIDENT DATA AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE OF OFFSHORE OPERATIONS 6. CONCLUSIONS 1. INTRODUCTION Following the preceding reports for the yeas 2016 and 2017, this report of the European Commission covers the safety of offshore oil and gas operations in the European Union (EU) in the year 2018. The legal basis for this report is Directive 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 on safety of offshore oil and gas operations and amending Directive 2004/35/EC (‘Offshore Safety Directive’). This legislation aims at achieving a high level of safety in offshore oil and gas operations, for the benefit of: workers; the environment; offshore platforms and equipment; and economic activities such as fishing and tourism. The provisions of the Directive, as implemented by Member States, will help to: (i) prevent major accidents; (ii) reduce the number of incidents; and (iii) ensure effective follow-up of accidents and incidents in order to mitigate their consequences. As in the preceding reports, the purpose of this annual report is: (i) to provide data on the number and type of installations in the EU; and (ii) to give information about incidents and an assessment of the safety performance of offshore oil and gas operations. With every additional report the analysis of trends will become more meaningful. Futhermore the series of annual reports will serve as a record of safety performance in Member States’ offshore oil and gas activities. This report is based on annual reports and data notified by Member States as required by the Offshore Safety Directive. The Commission has received data from Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Denmark, Germany, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom, which was still an EU Member State in the year 2018. Most of the installations are located in the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean (380 installations), while there are 166 installations in the Mediterranean Sea, 8 in the Black Sea and 2 in the Baltic Sea. The competent authorities of the Member States inspected 318 offshore installations in their jurisdictions in 2018. Following certain incidents, three Member States (the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Netherlands) carried out investigations during the reporting period. The United Kingdom carried out 41 investigations for safety and environmental concerns, and 5 investigations for major accidents.. Denmark carried out 3 investigations for safety and environmental concerns (no investigation on major accidents) and the Netherlands one investigation on a major accident (no investigation on safety and environmental concerns). The figures provided by Member States, specifically on the number and severity of accidents reported in relation to the number of installations, indicate a noticablyy lower level of safety in the European offshore sector compared to the two preceding years, which require a follow-up by the Member States’ compentent authorities. 2. LEGAL BASIS

In accordance with Article 25 of the Offshore Safety Directive, the Commission is required to publish an annual report on the safety and environmental impact of offshore oil and gas operations based on information reported by Member States. Member States must submit to the Commission an annual report containing information specified in Annex IX (point 3) of the Offshore Safety Directive, by 1 June each year. The annual reports to be submitted by Member States pursuant to Article 25 shall contain, as a minimum, the following information: (a) the number, age and location of installations; (b) the number and type of inspections and investigations carried out, in addition to any enforcement actions or convictions; (c) incident data pursuant to the common reporting system required in Article 23; (d) any major change in the offshore regulatory framework; (e) the performance of offshore oil and gas operations. Member States’ deadline for publishing the required information is 1 June of the year following the reporting period (e.g. 1 June 2019 for the year 2018). They shall report using a common format provided by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1112/2014 of 13 October 2014. This Implementing Regulation sets a common format for the sharing of information on major hazard indicators by the operators and owners of offshore oil and gas installations. It also sets a common format for the publication of information on major hazard indicators by the Member States. A Commission Guidance Document dated 25 November 2015 provides further specific information on the Implementing Regulation, and explains how to use the reporting format. 3. METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM MEMBER STATES Pursuant to Annex IX (point 3) of the Offshore Safety Directive, Member States are obliged to submit clearly defined information on incidents in their offshore oil and gas sector, using the templates provided by Implementing Regulation 1112/2014. The data submitted must include information on the offshore oil and gas installations in the EU, such as number, type, location and age. Reports from Member States must also provide information on the number of: (i) offshore inspections, investigations and enforcement actions taken; (ii) incidents by category; and (iii) injuries. In addition to data on individual Member States, the Commission has assessed the safety performance of offshore regions. For this purpose, the Commission considers: (i) Germany, Denmark, France, the United Kingdom, Ireland and the Netherlands as the North Sea and Atlantic region; (ii) Spain, Greece, Croatia, Cyprus, Italy and Malta as the Mediterranean region; (iii) Bulgaria and Romania as the Black Sea region; and (iv) Latvia and Poland as the Baltic Sea region. For its annual report for 2018, the Commission has used information provided by Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, France, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom. Other Member States were not active in the offshore oil and gas sector or did not submit information relevant for this report. With the exception of the United Kingdom, all Member States with offshore oil and gas operations provided complete data on all their installations. In contrast, the United Kingdom limited parts of its report to installations, which were subject to a regulatory review of their risk-assessment documentation (see also Article 42(2) of the Offshore Safety Directive). This means that information from the United Kingdom on investigations, enforcement actions, incident data, and the safety performance of offshore operations covers a range of installations continously expanding during the first half of 2018. Installations covered started with an estimated number of 139 installations in January 2018 and ended with an estimated number of 191 from 19 July 2018. That date was the end of the transitional period for all installations. 4. THE OFFSHORE SECTOR FOR OIL AND GAS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION 4.1 Installations and production The vast majority of offshore installations in EU waters are located in the North Sea (see table 1), specifically in the exclusive economic zones of the United Kingdom and the Netherlands (approximately 34% and 28% of offshore installations in EU waters, respectively). In the Mediterranean, Italy is the most active Member State (25% of all installations in the EU waters) followed by Croatia. In the Black Sea region, Romania has an established offshore oil and gas industry, while Bulgaria has continued exploration activities for offshore hydrocarbons but provides with one installaion a very limited production. According to the reports received from Member States on the Baltic Sea, only Poland has offshore installations in this region. In total, there were 556 production and non-production installations reported in EU waters in 2018, which constitutes an increase of two installations compared to 2017, despite several decommissioned installations.





Region/Country Type of installation(*) FMI FNP FPI NUI Total Baltic Sea 1 0 0 1 2 Poland 1 0 0 1 2 Black Sea 7 0 0 1 8 Bulgaria 0 0 0 1 1 Romania 7 0 0 0 7 Mediterranean 16 0 3 147 166 Croatia 2 0 0 18 20 Greece 1 0 0 1 2 Italy 12 0 3 126 141 Spain 1 0 0 2 3 North Sea & Atlantic 143 0 23 214 380 Denmark 10 0 0 20 30 Germany 2 0 0 0 2 Ireland 1 0 0 1 2 The Netherlands 48 0 0 107 155 United Kingdom 82 0 23 86 191 Total 167 0 26 363 556 (*) FMI — Fixed, manned installation; FNP — Fixed, non-production installation; FPI — Floating production installation; NUI — (Normally) Un-attended installation In 2018, there were 13 installations reported as being decommissioned in EU waters: 12 in the United Kingdom and 1 in Italy. In the same year, 1 new fixed installation was reported entering into operation in the Netherlands. Furthermore, amendments of the reporting methods of some Member States have also contributed to the change in the number of installations reported compared to the preceding year. More than half of the offshore installations in EU waters entered into operation between 1980 and 2000. Since 2010, the development of new production installations has dropped noticeably in the North Sea and Atlantic region and in the Mediterranean Sea (Table 2). Year of construction Region Baltic Sea Black Sea Mediterranean North Sea & Atlantic EU Total 1950-1959 0 0 0 4 4 1960-1969 0 0 7 21 28 1970-1979 0 0 14 41 55 1980-1989 0 2 53 82 137 1990-1999 1 3 42 119 165 2000-2009 1 3 40 70 114 2010-2019 0 0 10 43 53 2020-2029 0 0 0 0 0 EU Total 2 8 166 380 556



The largest part (approximately 94%) of the EU’s domestic oil and gas is produced in the North Sea and Atlantic region (Table 3). The United Kingdom is by far the largest contributor, followed by the Netherlands and Denmark. Italy and Croatia are active producers in the Mediterranean Sea, while in the Black Sea only Romania currently has a noticeable oil and gas output. REGION Country ktoe % of EU Total Baltic Sea 210.98 0.19% Poland 210.98 0.19% Black Sea 1138.87 1.01% Bulgaria 4.71 0.00% Romania 1134.16 1.01% Mediterranean 4139.61 3.69% Croatia 528.20 0.47% Greece 211.01 0.19% Italy 3311.00 2.95% Spain 89.40 0.08% North Sea and Atlantic 106727.60 95.11% Denmark 9589.00 8.55% Germany 915.00 0.82% Ireland 311.17 0.28% The Netherlands 11681.00 10.41% United Kingdom 84231.43 75.06% Total 112217.06 100.00% Compared to the preceding year, with less than a one per cent decline, the total production of offshore oil and gas was stable.

4.2 Offshore inspections, investigations, enforcement actions and regulatory framework The competent authorities of the Member States have regularly inspected the offshore installations in their jurisdictions. Table 4 presents the number of offshore inspections carried out during the reporting year. The number of inspections usually increases with the number of installations in Member States. As in 2017 the number of inspections decreased again, now from 630 in 2017 to 593 in 2018. Specifically, Italy decreased the number of inspections from 289 to 236, the Netherlands from 60 to 32, whereas the UK increased the number of inspections from 232 to 273. For the first time also Romania carried out inspections. In contrast to the decreasing number of instpections, more efforts were allocated in terms of man-days spent on insprections per installation (2817 man-days in 2018 compared to 2083 man-days in 2017). REGION Country Inspections Man-days spent on installation (travel time not included) Number of inspected installations Baltic Sea 3 6 2 Poland 3 6 2 Black Sea 4 24 2 Romania 4 24 2 Mediterranean 251 262 95 Croatia 10 10 4 Cyprus 2 6 2 Greece 1 10 1 Italy 236 234 86 Spain 2 2 2 North Sea & Atlantic 335 2525.5 219 Denmark 19 66 19 France 2 4 1 Germany 6 6 2 Ireland 3 30 3 The Netherlands 32 23 28 United Kingdom 273 2396.5 166 TOTAL 593 2817.5 318

(*)Table includes information from Member States with at least one offshore installation present in their jurisdiction in 2018. Article 18 of the Offshore Safety Directive attributes rights and powers to the competent authorities of Member States on operations and installations in their jurisdiction. These rights and powers include the right to prohibit operations and the right to request measures for ensuring compliance with the general principles of risk management and for ensuring safe operations. Accordingly, three Member States carried out investigations during the reporting period: the United Kingdom, Denmark and the Netherlands. The United Kingdom carried out 41 investigations for safety and environmental concerns, and 5 investigations for major accidents. Denmark carried out 3 investigation for safety and environmental concerns, and the Netherlands carried out 1 investigation for a major accident. Mainly due to the increase in the United Kingdom, the total number of investigations were in 2018 substantially higher (50) than in 2017 (20) and 2016 (23). Despite the increase of investigations the total number of enforcement actions was in 2018 lower than in 2017. Whereas Member States took 47 enforcement actions in 2017 (United Kingdom 45), in 2018 only the United Kingdom reported these actions, which number was with 34 cases lower than in 2017 . 5. INCIDENT DATA AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE OF OFFSHORE OPERATIONS Member States reported the following incidents for 2018, a total of 124, in accordance with Annex IX of the Offshore Safety Directive. - In the United Kingdom, there were 95 reportable events, including 5 major accidents. - In the Netherlands, there were 14 reportable events, including one major accidents. The causes of the major accident have not been reported, since the case is still under investigation at the time of reporting. -In Denmark, there were 9 reportable events, and no major accident.. -In France and Ireland, there was one reportable event in each Member State, and no major accident. The number of major accidents includes incidents with a significant potential to cause fatalities or serious personal injuries even if they did not lead to such outcomes. Most of the failures (80 %) that happened at the reportable events fell under the category of unintended releases; 13,7% concerned the loss of well control (blowout/diverter activation); 1,6% concerned failures of safety and environmental critical elements (SECE); and 1,6% concerned the loss of structural integrity (loss of station keeping). Two incidents required the evacuation of personnel. Annex IX categories No. of events Share (of Category Total) Share (of Events Total) (a) Unintended releases – Total 99 100.0% 79,8% Ignited oil/gas releases – Fires 1 1,06% 0,8% Ignited oil/gas releases – Explosions 0 0.0% 0.0% Not ignited gas releases 56 56,5% 45,2% Not ignited oil releases 31 31,3% 25,0% Hazardous substances releases 11 11,1% 8,9% (b) Loss of well – Total 17 100.0% 13,7 % Blowouts 0 0.0% 0.0% Blowout / diverter activation 8 47.1% 6,4% Well barrier failure 9 52.9% 7,3% (c) Failures of SECE 2 100.0% 1,6% (d) Loss of structural integrity – Total 2 100.0% 1,6% Loss of structural integrity 0 0.0% 0.0% Loss of stability/buoyancy 0 0.0% 0.0% Loss of station keeping 2 100.0% 1,6% (e) Vessel collisions 0 0.0% 0.0% (f) Helicopter accidents 0 0.0% 0.0% (g) Fatal accidents(*) 0 0.0% 0.0% (h) Serious injuries of 5 or more persons in the same accident 0 0.0% 0.0% (i) Evacuation of personnel 2 100.0% 1,6% (j) Environmental accidents(**) 2 100.0% 1,6% Total 124 100.0% 100.0% (*) Only if related to a major accident (**) According to reports of Member States, the major accidents did not qualify as environmental accidents