REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION Annual Report on the Safety of Offshore Oil and Gas Operations in the European Union for the Year 2019
Date: 2021-09-24
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, 24.9.2021  COM(2021) 585 final  REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION Annual Report on the Safety of Offshore Oil and Gas Operations in the European Union for the Year 2019              
 
 
REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION 

Annual Report from the European Commission on the Safety of Offshore Oil and Gas 
Operations for the Year 2019 

1 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Table of contents 

1. 

INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................................... 3 

2.  LEGAL BASIS ............................................................................................................................................ 4 

3.  METHODOLOGY AND INFORMATION RECEIVED FROM MEMBER STATES ............................. 4 

4.  THE OFFSHORE SECTOR FOR OIL AND GAS IN THE EUROPEAN UNION ................................... 5 

4.1 Installations and production ...................................................................................................................... 5 

4.2 Offshore inspections, investigations, enforcement actions and regulatory framework ............................. 9 

5. 

INCIDENT DATA AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE OF OFFSHORE OPERATIONS ....................... 10 

6.  CONCLUSIONS ....................................................................................................................................... 13 

2 

 
 
1. 

INTRODUCTION 

Following earlier publications for 2016, 2017 and 2018, this European Commission report provides 
data on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations in the European Union (EU) in 2019. 

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:  (i)  workers;  (ii)  the  environment;  (iii)  offshore 
platforms and equipment; and (iv) economic activities such as fishing and tourism. 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 earlier reports, the purpose of this annual report is: (i) to provide data on the number and 
type of installations in the EU; (ii) to give information on safety incidents in these installations; and 
(iii) to make 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  reports  from  Bulgaria,  Croatia,  Cyprus, 
Denmark, Germany, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, 
Romania, Spain and the United Kingdom (which was still an EU Member State in 2019). Most of the 
installations are located in the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean (366 installations), while there are 165 
installations in the Mediterranean Sea, 9 in the Black Sea and 2 in the Baltic Sea. 

In 2019, the competent authorities of the Member States inspected 337 offshore installations in their 
jurisdictions.  Following  certain  incidents,  three  Member  States  (the  United  Kingdom,  Italy  and 
Romania) carried out investigations during the reporting period. The United Kingdom carried out 39 
investigations for safety and environmental concerns, and 2 investigations for major accidents. Italy 
carried  out  1  investigation  of  a  major  accident  (no  investigation  on  safety  and  environmental 
concerns) and Romania carried out 1 investigation on safety and environmental concerns. 

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

3 

 
 
 
 
                                                           
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. 

The annual reports to be submitted by Member States under 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 under 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. 

The deadline for Member States to publish the required information is 1 June of the year following 
the reporting period (e.g. 1 June 2020 for the year 2019). 

The  Member  States  must  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:  (i)  sharing  information  on  major  hazard  indicators  by  the  operators  and  owners  of 
offshore  oil  and  gas  installations;  and  (ii)  publishing  information  on  major  hazard  indicators  by 
Member States. A Commission guidance document3 of 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 

Under  Annex  IX  (point  3)  of  the  Offshore  Safety  Directive,  Member  States  are  obliged  to  submit 
clearly  defined  information  on  safety  incidents  in  their  offshore  oil  and  gas  sector,  using  the 
templates  provided  by  Implementing  Regulation  (EU)  No  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.pdf 

4 

 
 
                                                           
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.4 

For its annual report for 2019, 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. 

All Member States with offshore oil and gas operations declared they had submitted complete data 
on all installations.  

4. 

THE OFFSHORE SECTOR FOR OIL AND GAS IN THE 
EUROPEAN UNION 

4.1 Installations and production 

The vast majority of offshore installations5 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  32%  and  28%  of  offshore  installations  in  EU  waters,  respectively).  In  the 
Mediterranean,  Italy  is  the  most  active  Member  State  (26%  of  all  installations  in  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 only has 
one installation and therefore produces very little. According to the reports received from Member 
States on the Baltic Sea, only Poland has offshore installations in this region. In total, there were 542 
installations  reported  in  EU  waters  in  20196,  which  constitutes  an  decrease  of  14  installations 
compared to 2018.  

4 Other Baltic Member States do not carry out offshore oil and gas operations. 
5 Mobile offshore drilling units (MODUs) are not part of the analysis of Section 4.1. 
6 Taking into account the decommissioned installations, the reported numbers of installations are not fully consistent with 
numbers from preceding years. 

5 

 
 
                                                           
Table 1. Fixed installations on 1 January 2019: Type of installation, by region and Member State 

Region/Country 

Type of installation(*) 

FMI 

NUI 

FNP 

FPI 

Total 

Baltic Sea 

Black Sea 

Mediterranean 

North Sea and Atlantic 

1 

1 

6 

0 

6 

16 

2 

1 

12 

1 

139 

10 

2 

1 

47 

1 

1 

3 

1 

2 

147 

18 

1 

126 

2 

204 

20 

0 

1 

109 

79 

74 

Poland 

Bulgaria 

Romania 

Croatia 

Greece 

Italy 

Spain 

Denmark 

Germany 

Ireland 

The 
Netherlands 

United 
Kingdom 

TOTAL 

162 

355 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

2 

0 

23 

0 

0 

0 

0 

2 

2 

9 

1 

8 

165 

20 

2 

140 

3 

366 

30 

2 

2 

156 

23 

176 

25 

542 

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

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In  2019,  there  were  11  installations  reported  as  decommissioned  in  EU  waters:  4  in  the  United 
Kingdom, 6 in the Netherlands and 1 in Romania. In the same year, 2 new fixed installations were 
reported as entering into operation, 1 in the Netherlands and 1 in Poland. 

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 (Table 2). 

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

Year of 
construction 

(not available7) 

1960-1969 

1970-1979 

1980-1989 

1990-1999 

2000-2009 

2010-2019 

2020-2029 

Total 

Region 

Baltic Sea 

Black Sea 

Mediterranean 

North Sea & 
Atlantic 

EU total 

0 

0 

0 

0 

1 

1 

0 

0 

2 

0 

0 

1 

2 

3 

3 

0 

0 

9 

0 

7 

14 

53 

42 

40 

9 

0 

165 

4 

16 

45 

78 

112 

71 

41 

0 

367 

4 

23 

60 

133 

158 

115 

50 

0 

543 

7 Year of construction; installation has not been reported by the Member State and the information could not be found 
from public sources. 

7 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
The largest part (approximately 96%) 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.  In  the 
Black Sea, only Romania currently has a noticeable output of oil and gas. 

Table 3. Offshore oil and gas production in the EU in kilotonnes 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 

215.18 

215.18 

1 260.02 

11.99 

1 248.03 

3 423.02 

361.90 

172.00 

2 850.00 

39.12 

115 442.58 

 7 814.74 

837.00 

239.18 

10 295.00 

96 082.40 

12 0340.79 

0.18% 

0.18% 

1.05% 

0.01% 

1.04% 

2.84% 

0.30% 

0.14% 

2.37% 

0.03% 

95.93% 

6.49% 

0.70% 

0.20% 

8.55% 

79.84% 

100.00% 

Compared to the preceding year, total production of oil and gas in the EU increased by 7%.  

8 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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. 

Compared  to  2018,  the  number  of  inspected  installations  increased  markedly  in  2019  in  Poland, 
Romania, Croatia, Greece and the Netherlands (in the Netherlands, installations rose from 28 to 50). 
Several Member States reported more work days spent on the installations to carry out inspections. 
In contrast, Italy carried out fewer inspections compared to the preceding year.  

Table 4: Number of offshore inspections by region and Member State in 2019 

REGION 

Country 

Inspections  Work days spent on 

installation (travel 
time not included) 

Number of 
inspected 
installations 

Baltic Sea 

Black Sea 

Poland 

Romania 

4 

4 

23 

23 

8 

8 

96 

96 

Mediterranean 

204 

210 

North Sea & Atlantic 

9 

1 

2 

191 

1 

366 

23 

1 

5 

3 

59 

11 

4 

26 

168 

1 

2 553 

72 

2 

5 

28 

34 

Croatia 

Cyprus 

Greece 

Italy 

Spain 

Denmark 

France 

Germany 

Ireland 

The Netherlands 

9 

4 

4 

11 

11 

84 

8 

1 

3 

71 

1 

238 

19 

1 

2 

2 

50 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
TOTAL 

United Kingdom 

275 

597 

2 412 

2 866 

164 

337 

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: (i) the right to prohibit operations; and (ii) the right to request measures for both ensuring 
compliance with the general principles of risk management and ensuring safe operations.  

Three  Member  States  carried  out  investigations  during  the  reporting  period:  the  United  Kingdom, 
Italy  and Romania.  In  addition  to  2 investigations  of major accidents, the United Kingdom  carried 
out  39  investigations  for  safety  and  environmental  reasons8.  Italy  carried  out  1  investigation  for  a 
major  accident,  and  Romania  carried  out  1  investigation  related  to  safety  and  environmental 
concerns.  Fewer investigations were  carried out  in 2019  (43) than in  2018 (50).  In previous  years, 
there were 20 investigations in 2017 and 23 in 2016. 

The total number of enforcement actions in 2019 was lower than in 2018. Although Member States 
took 33 enforcement actions in 2018 (all of these were taken by the United Kingdom), in 2019 only 
24 such actions were carried out (23 by the United Kingdom and 1 by the Netherlands).  

5. 

INCIDENT DATA AND SAFETY PERFORMANCE OF 
OFFSHORE OPERATIONS 

Operators/owners of installations and Competent Authorities report single events. However, one or 
several categories of incidents may describe such event: For example two incident categories have to 
be  notified  for  one  event,  if  there  was  an  (i)  unintended  release  of  gas,  which  required  the  (ii) 
evacuation of personnel.  

For  2019,  Member  States  submitted  information  on  156  reportable  events9  (up  from  120  in  2018. 
The bullet points below give more detail on these events. 

- 

- 

- 

In the United Kingdom, there were 126 reportable events, including 2 major accidents. The 
causes  of  the  major  accidents  have  not  been  reported,  since  the  cases  were  still  under 
investigation at the time of reporting.  
In the Netherlands, there were 18 reportable events, including 1 major accident. The causes 
of the major accident are still under investigation. 
In Italy, there were 2 reportable events, including 1 major accident. The causes of the major 
accident have not been reported, since the case was still under investigation at the time it was 
notified. 

8 Safety and environmental concerns are reported by the workforce. 
 Certain events, e.g. not related to operations, do not fall under the reporting obligation. 10 OJ L 178, 28 June 2013, p. 73: 
Article 2(1): ‘major accident’ means, in relation to an installation or connected infrastructure: 

10 

 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
- 
- 

In Denmark, there were 6 reportable events. There was no major accident. 
In Romania, there were 4 reportable events. There was 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 incidents (43%) belong to the category of unintended releases of gas and/or oil, while 
3.75% concerned the loss of well control (blowout/diverter activation and well-barrier failures), and 
2.5% concerned failures of safety and environmental critical elements (SECE). A further 0.94% 
were  vessel-collision  incidents,  while  0.63%  concerned  the  loss  of  structural  integrity  of  the 
installation,  and  0.31%  concerned  helicopter  accidents  (1  event).  Two  incidents  required  the 
evacuation of personnel and, for the first time since reporting, 1 incident resulted in the loss of life. 

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

Annex IX categories 

Total 

Share (of 
category 
total) 

Share (of 
events total) 

(a)  Unintended releases – Total 

138 

100% 

43.13% 

Ignited oil/gas releases – Fires 

Ignited oil/gas releases – Explosions 

Not ignited gas releases 

Not ignited oil releases 

Hazardous-substance releases 

(b) 

Loss of wells – 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 

11 

4 

0 

76 

52 

6 

12 

0 

7 

5 

8 

2 

2 

0 

2.90% 

1.25% 

0.00% 

0.00% 

55.07% 

23.75% 

37.68% 

16.25% 

4.35% 

1.88% 

100% 

3.75% 

0.00% 

0.00% 

58.33% 

2.19% 

41.67% 

1.56% 

100% 

100% 

2.50% 

0.63% 

100.00% 

0.63% 

0.00% 

0.00% 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Loss of station keeping 

(e)   Vessel collisions 

(f)  Helicopter accidents 

(g) 

Fatal accidents(*) 

(h)  Serious injuries of 5 or more people in the same accident 

(i) 

Evacuation of personnel 

(j) 

Environmental accidents(**) 

Total 

0 

3 

1 

1 

0 

2 

1 

168 

0.00% 

0.00% 

100% 

100% 

100% 

0.94% 

0.31% 

0.31% 

0.00% 

0.00% 

100% 

100% 

0.63% 

0.31% 

100% 

(*) 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, 124 in 2018, and 
168 in 2019. This increase has largely been due to an increased number of ‘unintended releases’ of 
both  oil  and  gas.  In  contrast,  incidents  in  the  categories  ‘loss  of  well  control’  and  ‘releases  of 
hazardous substances’ declined between 2016 and 2019. Remarkably, SECE failures increased from 
2 to 8 incidents between 2016 and 2019. In 2019, Member States’ competent authorities reported 3 
vessel collisions, 1 helicopter accident and 1 fatal accident; but in 2018 no such incidents occurred in 
Member States. As in 2018, personnel had to be evacuated from platforms twice in 2019. In 2019, 4 
incidents  (in  2018:  6  incidents)  were  classified  as  major  accidents10,  since  they  could  have 
potentially caused fatalities or serious personal injury. 

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 must be treated as if it were attended. 

12 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
Although  the  number  of  major  accidents  decreased  between  2016  and  2019,  as  shown  above,  the 
number of incidents, specifically unintended releases, continued its upward trend over this period11. 

6.  CONCLUSIONS 

With  543  installations  in  the  EU12,  the  number  of  installations  decreased  in  2019  compared  to  the 
preceding year (556 in 2018). However, the level of overall oil and gas production slightly increased 
from 112 217 ktoe of oil equivalent in 2018 to 120 340 ktoe of oil equivalent in 2019. 

The Commission assessed the safety of the EU’s offshore oil and gas operations based on the data 
provided by Member States according to the rules of the Implementing Regulation on reporting. This 
means  that  the  accuracy  of  the  Commission’s  analysis  depends  on  the  information  submitted  by 
Member States. 

In 2019, Member States’ competent authorities have redoubled their efforts to ensure a high level of 
safety in offshore oil and gas operations. They increased the number of inspected installations from 
318 in 2018 to 337 in 2019. However, the follow-up in the form of enforcement actions in 2019 was 
less than in  2018. Only  the United Kingdom  and the Netherlands (1 action) reported on follow-up 
actions taken in 2019. In the United Kingdom, the number of enforcement actions further decreased 
from 34 in 2018 to 23 in 2019. 

11 Year by year, the UK has increased the number of installations subject to the reporting of accidents. However, this 
increase only partially explains the upward trend in the figures. 
12 The report for the year 2019 still includes the United Kingdom. 

13 

42591241682016201720182019Number of incidents at offshore oil and gas installations in EU Member States from 2016 to 2019 
 
 
 
 
                                                           
While  for  all  Member  States,  the  number  of  major  accidents  in  the  EU  decreased  from  6  to  4 
between 2018 and 2019, the total number of incidents in all Member States (assigned to categories of 
Table 5) increased from 124 (2018) to  16813. One fatality was reported for 2019,  and 101 injuries 
and 45 serious injuries occurred.  

On  positive  developments,  the  number  of  incidents  in  Denmark  decreased  from  9  in  2018  to  6  in 
2019. This follows on from Denmark’s successful reduction in accidents between 2017 and 2018.  

With the objective of improving a high level of safety, in the coming year the Commission will work 
closely with the European Union Offshore Authorities Group (EUOAG) to bring back the number of 
incidents to a lower level in the EU, notably by further promoting the application of best practices in 
all Member States and assisting  national authorities represented in the EUOAG.  

While  the  United  Kingdom  has  become  a  third  country,  incidents  can  also  have  important 
consequences for countries in the region. The Commission will therefore continue working with the 
United Kingdom with the aim to maintain high levels of safety and environmental protection for all 
offshore oil and gas operations. It will notably use the instruments available in the framework of the 
Trade  and  Cooperation  Agreement  between  the  EU  and  the  United  Kingdom,  and  of  relevant 
International Conventions, to cooperate and exchange information and good practices. 

13 Whereas the number of incidents increased from 25 to 34 in the EU (without the UK), the UK reported an increase 
from 99 to 134 incidents for the year 2019. More specifically, the figures in  Italy increased from 0 to 6, in the 
Netherlands from 14 to 18, and in Romania from 0 to 4. Denmark reported 6 incidents, which was a decrease from the 9 
it reported in 2018. In the year 2019, from the 542 fixed installations in the EU (UK included) 176 (32,5 %) belonged to 
the UK’s jurisdiction 

14