LONDON — A major oil spill at a deep- water 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 today.
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 former BP chief executive 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 April 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 deep-water extraction until the full implications were understood of the explosion at the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon platform that killed 11 people and sparked the biggest oil spill in U.S. history.
The Associated Press
