WRITTEN QUESTION No. 3224/97 by Clive NEEDLE to the Commission. Re-commissioning of rigs
Date: 1997-10-09
Institutions: European Parliament, NEEDLE
Subjects: United Kingdom, hoisting equipment, industrial conversion, offshore oil structure, oil industry, shipbuilding

C 117/166

EN

Official Journal of the European Communities

16. 4. 98

(98/C 117/226)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3224/97

by Clive Needle (PSE) to the Commission

(9 October 1997)

Subject: Re-commissioning of rigs

In  light  of  the  conference  of  oil  companies  and  others  held  in  Brussels  on  29  September  1997  relating  to
decommissioning of rigs, a consortium based in Great Yarmouth in my constituency of Norfolk in the United
Kingdom is pursuing the possibility of re-commissioning oil rigs with the help of a company specializing in new
lifting systems, researchers from a local university and other local partners to look at both the economic and
environmental impact of this project.

Is the Commission aware of work being done in Great Yarmouth? If so, what plans does the Commission have to
analyze the usefulness of the project and communicate its lessons?

Answer given by Mr Papoutsis on behalf of the Commission

(6 November 1997)

The  question  raised  by  the  Honourable  Member  concerns  a  matter  which  is  of  considerable  interest  to  the
Commission.

The Commission has recently received the results of a major study on the subject of decommissioning offshore
oil and gas installations which concluded that it is technically feasible to remove all but a few of the existing steel
installations. It is therefore particularly interesting to see how industry is constantly developing new and more
efficient technologies in this field.

The Commission is aware of the (cid:145)Great Yarmouth solution(cid:146) project and is keen to explore all opportunities for the
reuse  of  these  installations.  The  Commission  is  active  within  the  Oslo-Paris  (OSPAR)  Convention,  which  is
seeking to agree a policy on the whole subject of decommissioning and disposal of offshore installations, and is
closely monitoring developments across Europe in the whole field which includes recommissioning or reuse of
facilities. In this respect the Great Yarmouth project is important as it involves a new method of heavy lifting and
the results are of interest in these ongoing discussions in OSPAR.

(98/C 117/227)

WRITTEN QUESTION P-3255/97

by Nikitas Kaklamanis (UPE) to the Commission

(9 October 1997)

Subject: Modification of second CSF for Greece

According to Greek press reports the Ministry of National Economy is supporting a proposal that DR 700 billion
from CSF appropriations allocated to Greece be redistributed among the structural funds and programmes in
order that they do not remain unassigned, since it will not be possible to utilize them by the year 2000 for the
objectives  for  which  they  were  earmarked.  As  a  result  of  this  redeployment  of  funds  the  appropriations
earmarked for the (cid:145)Ignatia(cid:146) road and the National Land Register, which are of the utmost importance for the
development of Greece, will be halved.

According to the same reports, the Ministry of National Economy maintains that (cid:145)the proposal does not mean
abandoning programmes or cancelling projects but merely transferring appropriations to speed up work on major
public  projects  co-funded  by  the  Community  without  affecting  the  future  of  individual  programmes  or
preparations for the (cid:145)Santer Package(cid:146).