Brussels, 03/12/2012 (Agence Europe) - Cyprus will host a ministerial meeting with the south-eastern Mediterranean countries in mid-December, focussing on the safety of offshore oil and gas activities.
The Cypriot Presidency of the Council of Ministers and the Commission briefed EU energy ministers on Monday 3 December on how talks are progressing on the draft regulation on making offshore oil and gas activities safer. There is nothing much to report for the moment since, on 29 November, the Presidency opened trialogue negotiations with the Commission and the European Parliament, after the Parliament agreed its position at the start of October on the draft text which seeks to replace the current patchwork of laws governing offshore drilling activities in the 27 EU member states. The text, as amended by the Parliament energy committee, on the basis of the report by Ivo Belet (EPP, Belgium), demands that companies operating platforms submit reports on the major dangers and emergency response plans before they can obtain a licence to drill. Licences will only be granted if companies prove that they have the financial resources to repair any environmental damage (see EUROPE 10707).
Cypriot Energy Minister Neoklis Sylikiotis confirmed on Monday that a ministerial meeting would be held in Nicosia on 12-13 December between the EU and the countries of the south-eastern Mediterranean region - Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey, with Syria not being invited for obvious reasons, given the crisis in the country - to try to reach common understanding on the way forward and future priorities for cooperation in the region. The meeting will focus on the safety of oil and gas activities, and will also discuss infrastructure and interconnections, and forming a common energy market. Sylikiotis said on Monday that the recent discovery of large reserves of natural gas in the Eastern Mediterranean and the increase in offshore activities called for closer cooperation between the EU and the other countries in the region. (EH/transl.fl)