REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION Annual Report on the Safety of Offshore Oil and Gas Operations in the European Union for the Year 2017
Date: 2019-07-30
Institutions: Directorate-General for Energy, European Commission
Subjects: activity report, environmental protection, extraction of oil, hydrocarbon, marine pollution, maritime safety, offshore drilling, offshore oil structure, oil pollution, petroleum exploration

EN 

  EN 

   EUROPEAN COMMISSION  Brussels, 30.7.2019  COM(2019) 358 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION Annual Report on the Safety of Offshore Oil and Gas Operations in the European Union for the Year 2017       
 
 
Table of Contents 

1. 

Introduction ................................................................................................................................................. 2 

2.  Legal Basis .................................................................................................................................................. 3 

3.  Methodology and Information Received from the Member States ............................................................. 4 

4.  The offshore sector for oil and gas in the European Union ......................................................................... 4 

4.1 Installations and production ...................................................................................................................... 4 

4.2 Offshore inspections, investigations, enforcement actions and regulatory framework ............................. 8 

5. 

Incident data and safety performance of offshore operations .................................................................... 10 

6.  Conclusions ............................................................................................................................................... 12 

1 

 
 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

This is the second European Commission report on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations in 
the  European  Union  (EU).  The  first  report  covered  safety  in  the  year  2016,  and  was  released  in 
August 2018.  

The  legal  basis  for  this  report  is  Directive  2013/30/EU1  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 report for 2016, 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  on  —  and  the  safety 
performance of — offshore oil and gas operations. In the coming years, when additional reports are 
available, 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, Greece, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Spain and the United 
Kingdom.  Most  of  the  installations  are  located  in  the  North  Sea  and  Atlantic  Ocean  (378 
installations), while there are 166 installations are in the Mediterranean Sea, 8 in the Black Sea and 2 
in the Baltic Sea. 

The competent authorities of the Member States regularly inspected the offshore installations in their 
jurisdictions  in  2017.  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 16 investigations for safety and environmental concerns, and 2 investigations 
for major accidents. One of the UK’s investigations for major accidents was still ongoing during the 
time of reporting. Denmark and the Netherlands each carried out 1 investigation for a major accident. 

The  figures  provided  by  Member  States,  specifically  on  the  number  and  severity  of  accidents 
reported  in  relation  to  the  number  of  installations,  indicate  that  the  European  offshore  sector  also 
demonstrated a good safety performance in 2017. 

1 OJ L 178, 28 June 2013, p. 66. 

2 

 
 
 
                                                            
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  must  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 2018 for the year 2017). 

Member  States  must  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  States2.  A  Commission  Guidance  Document3  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.  The  reports  from  Member  States  must  also  give  information  on  the  number  of:  (i)  offshore 

2 OJ L 302, 22 October 2014, p. 2. 
3https://euoag.jrc.ec.europa.eu/files/attachments/2015_11_25_implementing_regulation_guidance_document_final.p
df. 

3 

 
 
 
                                                            
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. The Commission also did this for the 2016 report. 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 2017, the Commission has used information provided by Bulgaria, Croatia, 
Cyprus, Greece, 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. The United Kingdom has limited parts of its report 
to  installations  which  were  subject  to  a  regulatory  review  of  their  risk-assessment  documentation 
(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  is  limited  to  139  installations  (out  of  a  total  of  188  installations  present  in  the 
United Kingdom continental shelf in 2017). 

4. 

THE OFFSHORE SECTOR FOR OIL AND GAS IN THE 
EUROPEAN UNION 

4.1 Installations and production 

The vast majority of offshore installations4 in EU waters are located in the North Sea, 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 commenced 
exploration  activities  for  offshore  hydrocarbons  but  has  very  limited  production.  According  to  the 
reports received from Member States on the Baltic Sea, only Poland has offshore installations in this 
region (see Table 1). In total, there were 554 production and non-production installations reported in 
EU  waters  in  2017,  which  constitutes  a  decrease  of  approximately  5%  (32  fewer  installations) 
compared to 2016. 

4 Mobile Offshore Drilling Units (MODUs) are not part of the analysis of Section 4.1. 

4 

 
 
 
 
                                                            
Table 1: Fixed installations: ‘Type of installation’, by region and Member State 

Region/Country 

Type of installation 

FMI 

NUI 

FNP 

FPI 

Total 

Total change 
from 2016 

Baltic Sea 

Black Sea 

Mediterranean 

North Sea & 
Atlantic 

Totals 

Poland 

Bulgaria 

Romania 

Greece 

Italy 

Spain 

Croatia 

United 
Kingdom 

Ireland 

Denmark 

Netherlands 

Germany 

1 

1 

7 

0 

7 

16 

1 

12 

1 

2 

143 

80 

0 

10 

51 

2 

167 

1 

1 

1 

1 

0 

147 

1 

126 

2 

18 

212 

86 

1 

20 

105 

0 

361 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

0 

3 

0 

0 

22 

21 

1 

0 

0 

0 

2 

2 

8 

1 

7 

166 

2 

141 

3 

20 

378 

188 

2 

30 

156 

2 

 0 

 0 

-1 

 0 

-1 

+1 

 0 

+1 

 0 

 0 

-32 

-37 

 0 

+1 

+4 

 0 

25 

554 

-32 

(*) FMI — Fixed, manned installation; FNP — Fixed, non-production installation; FPI — 
Floating production installation; NUI — (Normally) Un-attended installation 

In 2017, there were 6 installations reported as being decommissioned in EU waters: 5 in the United 
Kingdom and 1 in  Italy. In  the same year, 2 new fixed installations were reported as  entering into 
operation: 1 in the United Kingdom and 1 in the Netherlands. The movement of floating production 
installations has led to 1 additional installation being reported. Changes in the reporting methods of 
some  Member  States  have  also  contributed  to  the  change  in  the  number  of  installations  reported 
compared to 2016. 

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 and Figure 1). 

5 

 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
 
Table 2: Number of installations present in EU waters, by decade of entry into operation and by 
region(*) 

Decade of entry into operation 

REGION 

Baltic 
Sea 

Black 
Sea 

Mediterranean  North Sea and 

Total 

Atlantic 

Data not available 

1960-1969 

1970-1979 

1980-1989 

1990-1999 

2000-2009 

2010-2019 

Total 

0 

0 

0 

1 

1 

0 

2 

0 

0 

2 

3 

3 

0 

8 

7 

14 

53 

42 

40 

10 

166 

6 

21 

40 

82 

118 

69 

42 

378 

6 

28 

54 

137 

164 

113 

52 

554 

(*) In comparison to the data reported in 2016, the data for the year of entry into operation of the installations 
were more complete in the Member States’ reports for 2017. There are therefore some discrepancies between 
the corresponding data of the two reporting years. 

Figure 1: New fixed installations by decade and region 

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. 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table 3: Offshore oil and gas production in the EU in kilotonnes of oil equivalent (ktoe) 

Total production 
in 2017 in ktoe 

% EU total  Change 

from 2016 
in ktoe 

Change from 
2016 in % 

Region/Country 

Baltic Sea 

Black Sea 

Mediterranean 

Poland 

Bulgaria 

Romania 

Croatia 

Greece 

Italy 

Spain 

229.92 

229.92 

1,509.27 

44.08 

1,465.19 

4,692.36 

691.20 

146.16 

3,731.00 

124.00 

0.20% 

0.20% 

1.34% 

0.04% 

1.30% 

4.15% 

0.61% 

0.13% 

3.30% 

0.11% 

107.01 

107.01 

-49.62 

-17.7 

-31.92 

-770.04 

-176.69 

-34.35 

-486 

-73 

North Sea & Atlantic 

106,620.27 

94.31% 

-2,312.18 

11,393.00 

10.08% 

52 

Denmark 

Germany 

Ireland 

1,070.00 

227.40 

Netherlands 

12,986.00 

United Kingdom  80,943.88 

0.95% 

0.20% 

11.49% 

71.60% 

31.91 

96.52 

-867 

-1,625.6 
-3,024.82 

Total 

113,051.83 

100.00% 

46.5 

46.5 

-3.3 

-40.2 

-2.2 

-16.4 

-25.6 

-23.5 

-13.0 

-58.9 

-2.2 

0.5 

3.0 

42.4 

-6.7 

-2.0 

-2.7 

4.2 Offshore inspections, investigations, enforcement actions and regulatory framework5 

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 in line with the number of installations. 
Notably,  the  competent  authorities  of  Italy  and  Germany  carried  out  a  relatively  high  number  of 
inspections in relation to the number of installations when compared with other Member States. 

The  data  received  on  inspections  are  rather  similar  to  those  reported  in  2016.  Overall,  fewer 
inspections  took  place  in  2017  (630)  in  comparison  to  2016  (735).  However  more  effort  was 

5 OJ L 178, 28 June 2013, p. 78 

Article 8(1)(b) of the Offshore Safety Directive on the regulatory functions of the competent authority: overseeing 
compliance by operators and owners with this Directive, including inspections, investigations and enforcement actions. 

7 

 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
 
                                                            
allocated in terms of man-days (2,083 man-days in 2017 in comparison to 1,913 man-days in 2016). 
Table 4 includes two additional columns, which list the ratios of man-days per inspected installation, 
and the ratios of inspected installations per total number of installations for each Member State. As 
in 2016, Romania did not report carrying out any inspections during 2017. 

Table 4: Number of offshore inspections by region and Member State in 2017(*)(**) 

Region/Country 

Inspection
s 

Number of 
inspected 
installations 

Man-days 
per 
inspected 
installation 

Man-days 
spent on 
installation 
(travel 
time not 
included) 

Inspected 
installations 
as a 
percentage 
of total 
number of 
installations 

Baltic Sea 

Black Sea 

Mediterranean 

North Sea & 
Atlantic 

Poland 

Bulgaria 

Romania 

Croatia 

Cyprus 

Greece 

Italy 

Spain 

Denmark 

Germany 

Ireland 

2 

2 

1 

1 

0 

304 

12 

2 

0 

289 

1 

323 

18 

10 

3 

Netherlands 

60 

7 

7 

0 

0 

0 

378 

2 

9 

0 

366 

1 

1,698 

62 

10 

32 

41 

United 
Kingdom 

232 

1,553 

2 

2 

1 

1 

0 

96 

6 

1 

0 

88 

1 

225 

15 

2 

2 

49 

157 

3.50 

3.50 

0.00 

0.00 

0.00 

3.94 

0.33 

9.00 

- 

4.16 

1.00 

7.55 

4.13 

5.00 

16.00 

0.84 

9.89 

67% 

67% 

11% 

100% 

0 

56% 

30% 

50% 

- 

61% 

33% 

56% 

41% 

100% 

67% 

30% 

80% 

Total 
(*) The normalised values consider the total number of installations (i.e. fixed and mobile) operating within a 
jurisdiction. The numbers for Region/Total take into account that four mobile installations were identified as 
operating in more than one jurisdiction (North Sea region) in 2017. 

2,083 

56% 

6.43 

630 

324 

(**)Table  includes  information  from  Member  States  with  at  least  one  offshore  installation  present  in  their 
jurisdiction in 2017. 

8 

 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
Article  18  of  the  Offshore  Safety  Directive  grants  certain  rights  and  powers  to  the  competent 
authorities of Member States over 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. 
Member States in the North Sea and Atlantic region took eight such enforcement actions during the 
2017 reporting year. 

Three  Member  States  carried  out  investigations  during  the  reporting  period:  the  United  Kingdom, 
Denmark  and  the  Netherlands.  The  United  Kingdom  carried  out  16  investigations  for  safety  and 
environmental concerns, and 2 investigations for major accidents. One of the UK’s investigations for 
major accidents was still ongoing during the time of reporting. Denmark carried out 1 investigation 
for a major accident, and the Netherlands carried out 1 investigation for a major accident. The total 
number of investigations undertaken in 2017 (20) is comparable to the number undertaken in 2016 
(23). 

The  United  Kingdom  took  45  enforcement  actions  in  2017,  most  of  which  were  improvement 
notices, for the 139 installations dealt with in this part of its report (from a total of 188 installations). 
The Netherlands took 2 enforcement actions (administrative fines). Accordingly, the total number of 
enforcement actions taken in 2017 (47) is considerably larger than in 2016 (10). 

5. 

INCIDENT DATA AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE OF 
OFFSHORE OPERATIONS 

Of  the  Member  States  active  in  offshore  oil  and  gas  operations,  the  United  Kingdom,  the 
Netherlands, Denmark, Germany and Bulgaria reported the following incidents (in accordance with 
Annex IX of the Offshore Safety Directive). 

- 

- 

- 

- 
- 

In the United Kingdom, there were 30 reportable events in 2017, including 2 major accidents. 
One  of  these  major  accidents  was  still  under  investigation  at  the  time  of  reporting,  and 
therefore details of its investigation are not included in this annual report. The main causes of 
the major accident whose investigation was completed at the time of reporting were human 
error  and  operational  causes,  in  conjunction  with  inadequate  instruction/procedures.  The 
United Kingdom’s report covers 139 installations (out of a total of 188). 
In the Netherlands, there were 13 reportable events, including one major accident. The causes 
of the major accident have not been reported, since the case was still under investigation at 
the time of reporting. 
In Denmark, there were 14 reportable events, including one major accident. The causes of the 
major accident have not been reported, since the case was still under investigation at the time 
of reporting. 
In Bulgaria, there was 1 reportable event, and no major accident. 
In Germany, there was 1 reportable event, and no major accident. 

9 

 
 
 
The  count  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. 

Of  the  reportable  events,  most  (79.7%  of  the  total)  fell  under  the  category  of  unintended  releases; 
13.6%  concerned the loss  of well control (blowout/diverter activation); 1.7%  concerned failures of 
safety  and  environmental  critical  elements  (SECE);  and  5.1%  concerned  vessel  collisions.  No 
incident required the evacuation of personnel. 

Table 5: Incidents by categories (Annex IX of the Offshore Safety Directive, EU level) 

Annex IX categories 

Number 
of events 

Share of 
events in 
category  

Share of 
total events 

Number of 
events (in 
2016) 

(a)  Unintended releases — Total 

Ignited oil/gas releases — Fires 

Ignited oil/gas releases — Explosions 

Not ignited gas releases 

Not ignited oil releases 

Hazardous substances releases 

(b)  Loss of well control — Total 

Blowouts 

Blowout/diverter activation 

Well barrier failure 

(c)   Failures of SECE 

(d)  Loss of structural integrity — Total 

Loss of structural integrity 

Loss of stability/buoyancy 

Loss of station keeping 

(e)   Vessel collisions 

(f)  Helicopter accidents 

(g)  Fatal accidents (*) 

(h)  Serious injuries of 5 or more persons 

in the same accident (*) 

(i)  Evacuation of personnel 

47 

1 

0 

31 

13 

2 

8 

0 

6 

2 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

0 

0 

0 

0 

100.0% 

79.7% 

2.1% 

0.0% 

66.0% 

27.7% 

4.3% 

100.0% 

0.0% 

75.0% 

25.0% 

100.0% 

- 

- 

- 

- 

100.0% 

- 

- 

- 

- 

1.7% 

0.0% 

52.5% 

22.0% 

3.4% 

13.6% 

0.0% 

10.2% 

3.4% 

1.7% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

5.1% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

25 

0 

0 

13 

7 

5 

11 

0 

11 

0 

3 

2 

0 

1 

1 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

10 

 
 
 
 
 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
(j)  Environmental accidents (**) 

TOTAL 

0 

59 

- 

0.0% 

100.0% 

100.0% 

0 

42 

(*) Only if related to a major accident 
(**) According to reports of Member States, the major accidents did not qualify as 
environmental accidents.  

In the EU, the total number of reported incidents increased from 42 in 2016 to 59 in 2017, largely 
due to  an increased number of unintended releases.  In contrast, the ‘loss  of well control’  incidents 
fell from 11 in 2016 to 8 in 2017, and the ‘failures of safety and environmental critical elements’ fell 
from 3 to 1 in the same period. There were no reports of failures of structural integrity in 2017, in 
contrast to 2 such failures reported in 2016. In addition, no evacuation of personnel was reported for 
2017, in contrast to 2016 where such an evacuation took place once. 

There were 3 vessel collisions reported for 2017 compared to none reported for 2016, and there were 
2 failures of well barriers compared to none reported for 2016. In 2017, a total of 4 incidents were 
classified as major accidents6, since they could have potentially caused fatalities or serious personal 
injury.  These  are  still  being  assessed  by  the  competent  authorities.  In  comparison,  two  major 
accidents were reported in 2016. 

6.  CONCLUSIONS 

Both the number of installations and the level of overall oil and gas production slightly decreased in 
2017 in comparison to the year 2016 (the number of installations decreased from 586 to 554, while 
total production declined by 2.7%). The number of inspections and investigations carried out did not 
change significantly. 

The Commission assesses the safety of the EU’s offshore oil and gas operations based on the data 
provided  by  Member  States  in  accordance  with  the  provisions  of  the  Implementing  Regulation  on 
reporting.  Accordingly,  the  accuracy  of  the  Commission’s  assessment  depends  on  the  information 
submitted by Member States. 

6 OJ L 178, 28 June 2013, p. 73: 
Article 2(1): ‘major accident’ means, in relation to an installation or connected infrastructure: 
(a) an incident involving an explosion, fire, loss of well control, or release of oil, gas or dangerous substances involving, 
or with a significant potential to cause, fatalities or serious personal injury; 
(b) an incident leading to serious damage to the installation or connected infrastructure involving, or with a significant 
potential to cause, fatalities or serious personal injury; 
(c) any other incident leading to fatalities or serious injury to five or more persons who are on the offshore installation 
where  the  source  of  danger  occurs  or  who  are  engaged  in  an  offshore  oil  and  gas  operation  in  connection  with  the 
installation or connected infrastructure; or 
(d) any major environmental incident resulting from incidents referred to in points (a), (b) and (c). 
For  the  purposes  of  determining  whether  an  incident  constitutes  a  major  accident  under  points  (a),  (b)  or  (d),  an 
installation that is normally unattended shall be treated as if it were attended. 

11 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                            
As  in  2016,  no  fatalities  were  reported  in  2017.  Furthermore,  the  Commission  appreciates  the 
decrease  of  incidents  in  certain  categories,  such  as  losses  of  well  control,  failures  of  safety  and 
environmental  critical  elements,  and  failures  of  structural  integrity.  It  notes  the  number  of  major 
accidents, unintended releases, vessel collisions and failures of well barriers. Based on the above, it 
can be said that the European offshore sector demonstrated a good safety performance in 2017. 

12