LONDON– A major oil spill at a deepwater well in the North Sea would be more difficult to handle than the Gulf of Mexico disaster, but a moratorium on drilling isn't necessary because Britain has tougher safety standards, a committee of lawmakers said Thursday.
Legislators also stressed that a ban on drilling would leave Britain too reliant on imported energy as they backed the government's decision not to impose a moratorium.
After hearing weeks of testimony on the U.S. spill from regulators and oil executives, including BP's former CEO Tony Hayward, Energy and Climate Change Committee chairman Tim Yeo said his panel was satisfied Britain has a tougher safety regime than that in place in the gulf at the time of the Apr. 20 explosion.
However, the panel criticized the energy industry for complacency in preparing for unlikely, but potentially catastrophic events, and urged Britain's government not to rely on"controversial conclusions"in BP's internal report as it seeks to draw lessons from the spill.
Environmental groups including Greenpeace had urged Britain's government to suspend deepwater extraction until the full implications were understood of the explosion at the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon platform on April 20 that killed 11 people and sparked the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.
Yeo said his committee had concluded that a moratorium"would undermine the U.K.'s energy security and isn't necessary."
Britain tightened regulation in the North Sea after the country's worst offshore accident, a 1988 explosion on the Occidental Oil-owned North Sea Piper Alpha rig that killed 167 workers. Since April, the U.K. government has increased the number of rig inspectors in the North Sea, where there are 24 drilling rigs and 280 oil and gas installations.
The panel said any spill in the North Sea would pose more serious difficulties than those encountered in the Gulf. The remote location means there are only a limited supply of rigs that could be deployed to drill relief wells, while lower sea surface temperatures means the process of natural evaporation would be slower than in the U.S. incident.
"There are serious doubts about the ability of oil spill response equipment to function in the harsh environment of the open Atlantic in the West of Shetland,"the committee's report said.
In his testimony in September, Hayward— who has since been replaced by Bob Dudley— told legislators that deepwater extraction would continue to be necessary to meet current energy demands. He also said BP was not solely to blame for the Gulf disaster.
Though pressed on BP's safety record, there was no repeat in Britain of the onslaught of criticism Hayward endured when he appeared before the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee in June.
Robert Smith, a lawmaker from government coalition partner the Liberal Democrats and a member of the British committee, said the panel accepted that any restrictions on North Sea deepwater drilling would undermine the country's energy independence."If there was a moratorium, it would stop new development of gas supplies at a time when we are seeing concerns about winter reserves. It is important not to overreact,"he told The Associated Press.
Ministers argue that Britain must exploit its domestic oil and gas reserves— particularly until the country is able to produce more energy from renewable sources.
"Oil and gas are set to remain a key part of our energy system for years to come and it is vital that we search for and produce the U.K.'s own resources as safely as possible,"Energy minister Charles Hendry said in a statement.
The government estimates there are still around 20 billion barrels of oil equivalent to be discovered and produced from British waters in the North Sea. But overall oil production is expected to drop to around 1 million barrels per day within five years, from 1.36 million barrels per day in the 2009/10 financial year.
The committee's report also called on regulators to consider whether additional safety measures are required on deep water rigs.
"Requiring oil rigs to fit an extra fail-safe device, to cut and seal the pipes if a blowout occurs, is an option that must now be considered,"Yeo said.
Lawmakers warned that current legislation could lead to confusion over who would pick up the bill following any major U.K. spill.
Energy companies presently have their liability limited to $250 million per incident, which lawmakers said is too little. It is also unclear whether they would need to pay compensation for damage to wildlife and habitats.
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