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LONDON (Alliance News) - The House of Lords European Union Committee Tuesday called for a ministerial conference of North Sea countries to ensure a "holistic approach is developed to managing the environmental challenges and economic opportunities of the North Sea."
The Committee, which scrutinises the UK government?s policies and actions in respect of the European Union, said the conference "must deliver the urgently needed strategic and political vision to sustain the North Sea and secure it for future generations."
The call for a wider cross-border approach to boosting investment in the North Sea comes after the Oil and Gas Authority, UK Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne, and industry body Oil and Gas UK all separately said measures to support the North Sea oil and gas industry were required in the aftermath of the recent sharp drop in oil prices.
Most oil and gas fields in the North Sea are ageing and becoming more expensive to maintain. The recent sharp slide in oil prices to about USD54 a barrel, from over USD115 a barrel last June, has put pressure on the North Sea operators and threatens tax revenue from a source that is still important to the UK's overall tax receipts, evident by majors like BP PLC and Royal Dutch Shell slashing expenditure and cutting jobs from the North Sea.
The Committee has taken a step further, calling for an international effort to try and balance economic recovery and the environmental issues that have plagued the North Sea industry.
"If the North Sea is left uncoordinated, the conflict between environmental sustainability and economic growth will intensify. To avoid that, and to strike the right balance, we will need a coordinated and strategic approach. Despite some excellent ad-hoc initiatives, we do not feel that such an approach is in place at the moment," said Rosalind Scott, chair of the House of Lords European Union sub-committee on agriculture, fisheries, environment and energy.
The Committee did not reveal which specific nations the conference would include if it goes ahead, with the UK, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Sweden and the Frisian Islands of Germany all categorised as North Sea countries.
The recommendations come in the Committee?s report on European Union regional marine co-operation, which has been looking at the challenges to effective management of the North Sea.
The Committee suggested the UK and other coastal states should work together on a pilot project to test cross-border energy co-operation in the North Sea, which is currently being hampered by regulatory barriers.
The Committee also highlighted that there is no single map or database plotting the myriad of users in the North Sea, meaning the data being collected is being wasted and not used effectively, suggesting a cross-border data collection initiative should be implemented by the new European Marine Observation and Data Network.
English local authorities should also join the North Sea Commission, allowing them to play a "bigger role" in the stewardship of the North Sea. The Committee said 34 regions from eight countries around the North Sea participate in the work of the Commission but only one English local Authority is a member compared to seven Scottish authorities and 13 from Norway.
"The government and local government Association should look into ways to support authorities who wish to join the Commission but are deterred by the financial contribution required," it said in a statement.
The UK government should also produce a long-term strategic plan for the North Sea along the same lines as the Dutch North Sea 2050 Agenda, the Committee has recommended.
"We want the UK government to take the lead in convening a ministerial conference of North Sea states to deliver the urgently needed strategic and political vision for the North Sea. We also think the government should think harder about developing our own long term plan for the North Sea along the lines of the Dutch 2050 agenda," said Scott.
"The North Sea is one of the most industrialised seas in the world. We already have ships queuing to pass through sections of the sea basin and it is predicted that the space allocated to wind farms could increase fifty-fold in the next few years. That level of use places significant pressure on eco-systems in the North Sea," she added.
In February, Oil and Gas UK conducted a survey that provided "striking evidence of how rising costs, taxes and inadequate regulation have taken their toll on the UK industry?s international competitiveness," and highlighted "the urgency with which measures are needed to secure new investment and address the collapse in exploration."
Oil and Gas UK said even at USD110 per barrel, the North Sea would not realise its full potential, and predicted that the amount of projects moving from investment phase to development will fall by a third in 2015, whilst planned investment is set to fall to GBP3.5 billion from the original forecast of GBP8.5 billion.
By Joshua Warner; joshuawarner@alliancenews.com; @JoshAlliance
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