SD13 Oct 2010 16:33
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EU softens stance on oil drilling moratorium
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Pete Harrison, 19:07, Tuesday 12 October 2010
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission has softened its call for a moratorium on oil drilling in deep water, an EU document showed Tuesday.
The call was a response to BP's accident in the Gulf of Mexico, but the idea has been rebuffed by the European Union's parliament and by Britain, the home of the EU's biggest oil explorers.
A draft seen by Reuters last week called on EU governments to implement a drilling ban, but the final version of the plan now says it is a decision best made in national capitals.
"While any decision to suspend offshore drilling operations is left to the discretion of member states, the Commission reiterates its call upon the member states to rigorously apply a precautionary approach in the licensing of new complex oil or gas exploration operations...until the European offshore safety regimes have been assessed in light of the Deepwater Horizon accident," said a final version of the plan, seen by Reuters.
Meanwhile, EU countries should "examine whether a suspension of such licensing is needed," the document added.