Annual report on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations in the European Union for the year 2016

Further information:

Directive 2013/30/EU on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations (the 'Offshore Safety Directive') seeks to achieve a high level of safety for carrying out these operations. The health of workers, the environment, the platforms and equipment for offshore operations and economic activities such as fishing and tourism benefit from a high safety level. The Directive’s provisions, as implemented by Member States, will help to avoid major accidents, reduce the number of incidents and achieve an effective follow-up of accidents and incidents to mitigate their consequences.

The purpose of this annual report is to provide data on the number and type of installations in the European Union and to inform on incidents and the safety performance of offshore oil and gas operations. In the coming years, the series of annual reports will serve to monitor the chronological development of safety performance in Members States and regions. Based on the reports submitted by Member States, the Commission concludes that the European offshore sector demonstrated a good safety performance in 2016.