The European Union has decided against imposing a moratorium on offshore oil drilling in EU waters, believing there is no need for such drastic measures if current safety rules are adhered to.

The European Commission said that in a meeting of EU Energy Ministers in Brussels, the 27 member states agreed that more safety rules should be put in place but a moratorium was not the way forward.

Following the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year, EU Energy Commissioner Günther Oettinger had suggested member states postpone further drilling of offshore oil wells until the results of a full investigation of the Deepwater Horizon incident become known.

However, this proposal was resisted by a number of member states, including Malta, arguing this ext­reme measure was not necessary.

Discussing the issue again during the Energy Council, member states agreed on a compromise, calling on the EU executive to present fresh proposals as soon as possible in 2011. These should include concrete initiatives such as legislative measures to tighten the safety requirements of offshore oil drilling.

However, “since current safety levels are deemed to be highly sufficient”, the Council does not consider it necessary to put in place a moratorium on all new offshore drilling.

Although no oil exploration projects have been conducted by Malta for the last few years, the moratorium would have coincided with advanced plans by two foreign companies to start drilling off the Maltese coast in the coming months.

Both Maltese licence holders, Heritage Oil and Malta Oil Plc Limited, had indicated the end of this year or 2011 to start drilling once they complete the geological surveys of the areas they have been licensed to cover by the Maltese government.

Malta had not taken a clear position on the moratorium proposed by Brussels. A government spokesman had told The Times last October that the island was in favour of more safety rules but stopped short of declaring its formal position.

The Commission had raised serious doubts about the different safety standards adopted by its member states, stating that Europe’s myriad regulations for offshore exploration were too fragmented to cope with an industry that was drilling further and further offshore in deep, rough waters as “easy oil” ran out.

Brussels had observed there were more than 1,000 installations in the northeast Atlantic and over 100 in the Mediterranean, with plans for new exploration off the coasts of Cyprus and Malta.

Malta was represented at the Energy Council by Resources Minister George Pullicino.

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