President Klaus Iohannis promulgated, on Thursday, the normative act that modifies and supplements Law no. 165/2016 regarding the safety of offshore oil operations, Agerpres informs.

According to the explanatory, the initiative aims at the implementation and correct application of EU Directive 2013/130 on the safety of offshore oil and gas operations and modification of the EC Directive 2004/35.

The law aims to define specific terms for offshore activity, terms that can significantly influence the safety of such oil operations, by specifying all the operations carried out on a submarine cable or pipeline, with the aim of establishing which ships can enter the safety zone of the installations, in view of avoiding additional risks.

The normative act provides that the decommissioning of offshore, fixed, production and non-production oil installations and their connected infrastructures means the abandonment of wells, the dismantling and total removal of existing structures, both above sea level and underwater, under safe conditions and in a responsible manner in terms of environmental protection, or the adoption of another effective method, including monitoring and/or greening of the seabed, as the case may be, according to the provisions of art. 60 paragraph 3 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, concluded in Montego Bay (Jamaica) on December 10, 1982, ratified by Law no. 110/1996.

According to the law, connection infrastructure means any transport structure, in the form of a tube, flexible, located on the bottom of the sea or buried, which is used for the transport of fluids, for the transport of computer data, for the transport of power or weak signal electricity.

The authority that signed the oil agreements, ANRM, takes note of the notification to the relevant authority and requests the holder of the oil agreement to remedy the situation within a time frame agreed upon through a consultation between the parties (authority ANRM – Competent Regulatory Authority for Black Sea Offshore Operations), but not to exceed the deadline of 90 days. In case of non-fulfillment of the responsibilities until the end of this term, ANRM will notify the owner of the oil agreement in writing, regarding the non-fulfillment of the responsibilities in question and will request the appointment of another operator.

Agerpres