Address
by the Minister of Energy Mr Y. Lakkotrypis at meeting on “Regional Cooperation
in the Area of Safe and Environmentally Friendly Offshore Oil and Gas
Activities”
It
is with greatpleasure that I join you today at this important international
meeting on the safety and environmental protection from offshore oil and gas
activities, organized in Nicosia by the British High Commission and the Cyprus
University of Technology. I am delighted and honored to welcome you all to our
beautiful island and, of course, to be given this excellent opportunity to
converse with you directly.
For
Cyprus, thesafety and the protection of the environment from offshore
hydrocarbons activities are priority issues. The same applies, I am certain, for
all our friends in the Eastern Mediterranean. Our common region, after all, has
been blessed with the discoveries of substantial quantities of natural gas,
which in combination with all the potential hydrocarbon findings, confirm that
the area is a new promising source and a possible alternative transport route,
for worldwide and European oil and gas supply.
The
flip side ofexploiting all this natural wealth for the benefit of our peoples is
that the resulting increase of oil and gas activities, of which the vast
majority takes place offshore, necessitates the adherence to the highest
standards of safety and environmental protection during such operations. This
became abundantly clear after the recent accidents related to offshore
exploration andexploitation activities, especially the 2010 accident in the Gulf
of Mexico, whereby public awareness and demand for corrective action with
regards to the risks involved also significantly increased.
Obviously,
what isurgently needed today is to ensure that our precious and shared ecosystem
remains safe and protected, through international and regional cooperation. In
this regard, the European Union has taken important steps forward, having
decided to thoroughly review the legislative framework pertaining to the safety
of offshore hydrocarbon activities.
Specifically,
in June2013 the EU adopted a Directive (2013/30/EU) on the safety of offshore
oil and gas operations. The scope of this Directive is to reduce, as far as
possible, the occurrence of major accidents relating to offshore oil and gas
activities and to limit their consequences, thus increasing the protection of
the marine environment and coastal economies against pollution. Furthermore, it
aims at establishing minimum conditions for safe offshore exploration and
exploitation of oil and gas, limiting possible disruptions to the EU’s
indigenous energy production and improving the response mechanisms in case of an
accident.
In
Cyprus, in orderto ensure independence and objectivity, the competent authority
for the implementation and monitoring of the Directive is the Department of
Labour Inspection of the Ministry of Labour, Welfare and Social
Insurance.
In
addition, theCyprus University of Technology, through the Department of Civil
Engineering and Geomatics, is successfully coordinating the Joint Industry
Funded Research and Development Programme – in the context of which today’s
meeting is held – for the “Development and Implementation of Safety Regime for
Offshore Oil and Gas Operations”. Seven different Ministries of the Republic of
Cyprus, including the Ministry of Energy, are participating in the Programme,
which is in fact jointly funded by the operators of exploration and
productionactivities in our country’s Exclusive Economic Zone, as well as by the
contractors supporting their operations. The aim, of course, is to come up with
guidelines and recommendations for the development and function in Cyprus of the
organizations, regulations, mechanisms and procedures, required to ensure the
safety of hydrocarbon activities according to the new EU Directive.
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
As
I have mentioned earlier,offshore oil and gas exploration in the Eastern
Mediterranean is constantly increasing. Undoubtedly, a major accident relating
to offshore oil and gas operations in the Mediterranean Sea is likely to have
significant negative consequences on the marine and coastal
environment.
This
is a worst casescenario that we all need to be well prepared for. Particularly
for Cyprus, as an island nation with a GDP that depends heavily on tourism, it
is a scenario that in no way can be taken lightly. In this respect, we value
greatly the collaboration between the Eastern Mediterranean countries engaging
in offshore oil and gas operations, especially in major accident prevention and
response. This could be achieved by establishing a common policy, based on the
exchange of information, expertise and best available techniques in promoting
the protection of the environment and the enhancement of safety from these kinds
of activities.
In
closing therefore,I wish you all every success in the proceedings of this
conference. I have no doubt that your discussions here, in Cyprus, will
contribute positively to better shape our future policy regarding the safety of
offshore oil and gas activities.
Thank
you for yourattention.
