Tuesday 14 April 2015

Oil & Gas UK comment on Medium Sized Combustion Plant Directive

Mick Borwell, environment director at Oil & Gas UK, said: “We are very concerned at the European Parliament Industry, Research and Energy Committee’s opposition to plans to exempt offshore installations from the proposed Medium Sized Combustion Plant Directive (MCPD). If implemented in its current form, the MCPD could require retrofits on up to 200 UK installations, rendering some uneconomic and accelerating decommissioning, which will leave valuable barrels of oil and gas in the ground and risk employment.

“The UK Government forecasts that we will continue to rely on oil and gas to meet 70 per cent of our energy needs for several decades to come so it is imperative that we maximise economic recovery of our own resources. While emissions are an issue that the UK offshore oil and gas industry takes very seriously, a balance must be struck between benefits to the environment and costs to industry that would put oil and gas production and the UK’s energy security at risk. We urge all UK MEPs to support measures that safeguard a vital UK industry, in particular at the impending European Parliament Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee vote on the MCPD.”   Ends

The European Parliament's report on the European Commission's proposal for a directive on the limitation of emissions of certain pollutants into the air from medium is here.