UK Oil and Gas (Regulation)

Charles Hendry Excerpts

Monday 4th April 2011 Written Statements

[The Minister of State, Department of Energy and Climate Change (Charles Hendry)]

In his statement to the House on 14 June 2010 on the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Energy and Climate Change indicated his intention to review our regulatory procedures once detailed analysis of the factors that caused the incident were available. Subsequently in their evidence to the Committee on Energy and Climate Change’s inquiry into deepwater drilling, my Department, the Health and Safety Executive and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency confirmed that the review would involve external experts to ensure that an independent perspective was brought to bear on this work. I am pleased to announce today the composition of the panel which has been established to review the UK’s oil and gas offshore regulatory regime.

The panel will be chaired by Geoffrey Maitland, Professor of Energy Engineering at Imperial College. He will be joined on the panel by two further independent members; Professor John Shepherd of the National Oceanography Centre at the University of Southampton, and Mr Mick Temple, who holds a range of positions and has extensive oil industry experience. Mr Jim Campbell (Director of Energy Development, DECC), Mr Kevin Myers (Deputy Chief Executive Health and Safety Executive), and Mr Philip Naylor (Director of Maritime Services , Maritime and Coastguard Agency) will represent the three regulatory bodies involved. The panel’s first formal meeting will take place on 7 April 2011. It will report later this year.