REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION Annual Report on the Safety of Offshore Oil and Gas Operations in the European Union for the Year 2018
Date: 2020-11-30
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, 30.11.2020  COM(2020) 263 final/2  CORRIGENDUM This document corrects document COM(2020) 263 of 25 June 2020. Concerns all language versions. The last two paragraphs in Section 6 - Conclusions, have been corrected. The text shall read as follows:  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 

2.  LEGAL BASIS ............................................................................................................................................ 3 

3.  METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM MEMBER STATES ............................. 3 

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 ......................... 9 

6.  CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 12 

1 

 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Following  the  preceding  reports  for  the  years  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/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 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.  Furthermore  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  noticably  lower  level  of  safety  in  the 
European  offshore  sector  compared  to  the  two  preceding  years,  which  require  a  follow-up  by  the 
Member States’ competent authorities. 

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  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  20142.  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  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.  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. 

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 

 
 
                                                           
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 continuously 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 installations4 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  installation  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 installations5.  

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

4 

 
 
 
 
                                                           
Table 1: Fixed installations on 1st January 2018: ‘Type of installation’, by region and Member State 

Region/Country 

Type of installation(*) 

FMI 

FNP 

FPI 

NUI 

Total 

Baltic Sea 

Black Sea 

Mediterranean 

North Sea & Atlantic 

Poland 

Bulgaria 

Romania 

Croatia 

Greece 

Italy 

Spain 

Denmark 

Germany 

Ireland 

The Netherlands 

United Kingdom 

Total 

1 

1 

7 

0 

7 

16 

2 

1 

12 

1 

143 

10 

2 

1 

48 

82 

167 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

3 

0 

0 

3 

0 

1 

1 

1 

1 

0 

2 

2 

8 

1 

7 

147 

166 

18 

1 

20 

2 

126 

141 

2 

3 

23 

214 

380 

0 

0 

0 

0 

23 

26 

20 

30 

0 

1 

2 

2 

107 

155 

86 

191 

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 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 year6. 

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  noticably  in  the 
North Sea and Atlantic region and in the Mediterranean Sea (Table 2). 

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

Year of 
construction 

1950-1959 

1960-1969 

1970-1979 

1980-1989 

1990-1999 

2000-2009 

2010-2019 

2020-2029 

EU Total 

Region 

Baltic Sea 

Black Sea 

Mediterranean 

North Sea & 
Atlantic 

EU Total 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

1 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

0 

2 

3 

3 

0 

0 

8 

0 

7 

14 

53 

42 

40 

10 

0 

166 

4 

21 

41 

82 

119 

70 

43 

0 

380 

4 

28 

55 

137 

165 

114 

53 

0 

556 

6 Despite the decommissioning of 13 installations and the start of operation of only one new installation the total 
number of installations increased by two installations. If all data were accurately reported the number had to decline by 
12 installations. 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
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. 

Table 3. Offshore oil and gas production in the EU in kilo tons of oil equivalent (ktoe) 

Country 

ktoe 

% of EU Total 

REGION 

Baltic Sea 

Black Sea 

Mediterranean 

North Sea and Atlantic 

Poland 

Bulgaria 

Romania 

Croatia 

Greece 

Italy 

Spain 

Denmark 

Germany 

Ireland 

The Netherlands 

United Kingdom 

Total 

210.98 

210.98 

1138.87 

4.71 

1134.16 

4139.61 

528.20 

211.01 

3311.00 

89.40 

106727.60 

9589.00 

915.00 

311.17 

11681.00 

84231.43 

112217.06 

0.19% 

0.19% 

1.01% 

0.00% 

1.01% 

3.69% 

0.47% 

0.19% 

2.95% 

0.08% 

95.11% 

8.55% 

0.82% 

0.28% 

10.41% 

75.06% 

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.  

7 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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 inspections, more efforts 
were  allocated  in  terms  of  man-days  spent  on  inspections  per  installation  (2817  man-days  in  2018 
compared to 2083 man-days in 2017).  

Table 4: Number of offshore inspections by region and Member State in 2018* 

REGION 

Country 

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

Number of 
inspected 
installations 

Baltic Sea 

Black Sea 

Mediterranean 

North Sea & Atlantic 

Poland 

Romania 

Croatia 

Cyprus 

Greece 

Italy 

Spain 

Denmark 

France 

Germany 

2 

2 

2 

2 

95 

4 

2 

1 

86 

2 

219 

19 

1 

2 

6 

6 

24 

24 

262 

10 

6 

10 

234 

2 

2525.5 

66 

4 

6 

3 

3 

4 

4 

251 

10 

2 

1 

236 

2 

335 

19 

2 

6 

8 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Ireland 

The Netherlands 

United Kingdom 

3 

32 

273 

593 

30 

23 

2396.5 

2817.5 

3 

28 

166 

318 

TOTAL 

(*)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 concerns7, 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  events8,  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.. 

7 Safety and environmental concerns is the reporting by the workforce, if they see issues in the workplace that they 
think might be breaking health and safety law and has the potential to cause harm. 
8 A single reportable event may lead to several incidents, e.g. an unintended release of gas may lead to the evacuation 
of personnel.  

9 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
- 

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. 

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

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 

Ignited oil/gas releases – Explosions 

Not ignited gas releases 

Not ignited oil releases 

Hazardous substances releases 

(b) 

Loss of well – 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 

10 

1 

0 

56 

31 

11 

17 

0 

8 

9 

2 

2 

0 

0 

2 

1,06% 

0.0% 

0,8% 

0.0% 

56,5% 

45,2% 

31,3% 

25,0% 

11,1% 

8,9% 

100.0% 

13,7 % 

0.0% 

47.1% 

52.9% 

0.0% 

6,4% 

7,3% 

100.0% 

1,6% 

100.0% 

1,6% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

100.0% 

1,6% 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
(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 

(j) 

Environmental accidents(**) 

Total9 

0 

0 

0 

0 

2 

2 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

0.0% 

100.0% 

1,6% 

100.0% 

1,6% 

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 

In the EU, the total number of incidents increased from 42 in 2016 to 59 in 2017 and further to 124 
in  2018,  largely  due  to  an  increased  number  of  ´unintended  releases´.  The  ‘loss  of  well  control’ 
incidents increased to 17, after the number fell from 11 in 2016 to 8 in 2017. The ‘failures of safety 
and environmental critical elements’ was 2, after 3 in 2016 and 1 in 2017. There were 2 reports of 
failures  of  structural  integrity  in  2018  after  none  in  2017  and  2  such  failures  reported  in  2016.  In 
addition,  2  evacuations  took  place  in  2018,  whereas  no  evacuation  of  personnel  was  reported  for 
2017 and 1 evacuation was reported  in 2016. 

No vessel collisions were reported for 2018, compared to 3 in 2017 and none reported for 2016; there 
were 9 failures of well barriers compared to 2 in 2017 and none reported for 2016. In 2018 a total of 
6 incidents were classified as major accidents10, since they could have potentially caused fatalities or 
serious personal injury. In 2017, 4 major accidents occurred and 2 major accidents were reported in 
2016. 

Taking  note  of  the  increased  number  of  accidents  the  Commission  closely  co-operates  with 
Competent  Authorities  concerned  to  determine  the  causes  for  this  development  and  to  discuss  a 

9 A single incident may appear more than once, for example: the evacuation of personal linked to the loss of well control 
would count for the total as two points. 
10  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 

 
 
 
                                                           
potential follow-up allowing a higher level of safety performance as soon as possible. Co-operation 
takes place bilaterally and in the context of the European Offshore Authorities Group (EUOAG). 

6.  CONCLUSIONS 

With  556  installations  in  the  EU  (2018  includes  the  United  Kingdom),  the  number  of  installations 
remained rather stable. In the preceding year it decreased from 586 in 2016 to 554 in 2017. The level 
of overall oil and gas production slightly decreased from 113 051 of kilotons of oil equivalent to 112 
217 kilotons of oil equivalent in 2018. 

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. 

The number of inspections and investigations carried out was slightly lower (minus 6 %) than in the 
preceding  year. In comparison to 2017, Member States carried out a lower number of enforcement 
actions. 

The number of incidents sharply increased from 59 in 2017 to 124 in 2018. The phasing in of all the 
United Kingdom’s offshore installations into the reporting system may only explain a smaller part of 
the increase of accidents11. Incidents in the UK increased from 30 to 99, in the Netherlands from 13 
to  14  and  in  Greece  and  Ireland  each  from  zero  to  one.  In  contrast,  this  number  decreased  for 
Denmark from 14 to 9. Major accidents increased from 4 to 6 between 2017 and 2018. 

As  in  2016  and  2017,  no  fatalities  were  reported  in  2018  but  12  injuries  and  17  serious  injuries 
occurred. According  to the reports of competent authorities, in the United Kingdom the number of 
accidents significantly increased, which requires both an in-depth analysis of causes and follow-up 
measures by the competent authority. The Commission will co-operate with Member States and seek 
co-operation with the United Kingdom to ensure a very high level of safety for offshore oil and gas 
operations. 

11 The effect of the phasing in may justify an estimated increase by 10 incidents, if safety peformance remainded 
unchanged per installation. 

12