Offshore Safety

HEREMA has been transitionally appointed as the Competent Authority for Offshore Safety in Oil and Gas Operations in Greece since July 28th, 2016, through Law 4409/2016 [1] (transposition of Directive 2013/30/EU [2] ). According to the Law, the responsibilities of HEREMA include:

Assessing and accepting Reports on Major Hazards. Assessing design notifications and notifications of well operations or notifications of combined operations.

Overseeing compliance by operators and owners of the Greek Offshore Safety Law, including inspections, investigation and enforcement actions.

Advising other authorities or bodies.

Making annual plans and producing reports.

Cooperating with other EU Competent Authorities.

Proposing the issuing of safety regulations and regulatory acts.

Incident Reporting

Operators and owners of offshore oil and gas installations shall notify HEREMA without delay, of any major hazard indicators, pursuant to Article 23 of L. 4409/2016 and shall submit the report referred to in the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1112/2014 within 10 working days of the event.

Operators and owners of offshore oil and gas installations shall notify HEREMA about the event, without delay, by telephone or by e-mail. The information provided should be unambiguous and consist of all factual information and data available at the time of notification.
According to the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) No 1112/2014 (“Determining a Common Format for Sharing of Information on Major Hazard Indicators by the Operators and Owners of Offshore Oil and Gas Installations and a Common Format for the Publication of the Information on Major Hazard Indicators by the Member States”), common formats are specified in relation to: (a) reports from operators and owners of offshore oil and gas installations to competent authorities of Member States in accordance with Article 23 of Directive 2013/30/EU (b) publication of information by Member States in accordance with Article 24 of Directive 2013/30/EU. Operators and owners of offshore oil and gas installations shall submit the report referred to (a) above within 10 working days of the event.

Annual Reports

According to Article 24 of Law 4409/2016, the Competent Authority shall submit an annual report to the Commission containing the information specified in Annex IX, point 3.

 Annual Report 2016
 Annual Report 2017
 Annual Report 2018
 Annual Report 2019
 Annual Report 2020
Annual Plans

HEREMA develops Annual Plans for the safety of Offshore Oil & Gas operations, in accordance with Article 21 par.3 of Law 4409/2016.

 Annual Plan 2018
 Annual Plan 2019
 Annual Plan 2020
 Annual Plan 2021
 Annual Plan 2022
 Annual Plan 2023
Confidential Reporting
(pursuant to Art. 22 of L.4409/2016)

Employees of operators and owners, as well as any concerned individual, may contact HEREMA at any point with safety concerns or possible irregularities detected, in a fully confidential manner, via telephone or by emailing their concern to the dedicated address (confidential.reporting@greekhydrocarbons.gr). HEREMA will fully protect the identity of the reporting person upon receipt of this report, and will ensure their anonymity, keeping also in accordance with the regulations on the protection of personal data.

The report must include the name of the offshore facility and a detailed description of the issue of concern, including the date of a possible event. The amount of detail submitted (possibly including electronic files such as photos, videos etc) will make it easier for HEREMA to assess the issue under consideration.

Following consideration by HEREMA, safety concerns will be addressed in a manner proportionate to the concern raised. HEREMA will firstly ascertain the facts behind the concern and whether they fall within its jurisdiction. It will then assess whether there has been any breach of Greek Offshore Safety legislation, ensure that any necessary remedial action is taken by the owner or the operator and take further enforcement action, if appropriate. Where the confidential report does not refer to an immediate safety concern, the topic may be included for investigation in an upcoming inspection. In any case, HEREMA will promptly notify the reporting person about its intended actions and, in case of an investigation, its findings will be also communicated to them when completed.

Operators and owners are required to communicate the details of this mechanism for confidential reporting of safety concerns to their employees and contractors carrying out offshore oil and gas operations, and to ensure that reference to confidential reporting is included in relevant training sessions. Notices about the confidential reporting mechanism must be displayed on visible places on the offshore installation (bulletin board, computer room etc.).

[ 1 ] Law 4409/2016 (Official Government Gazette of the Hellenic Republic A’ 136 28.7.2016) “Framework on safety of offshore operations for exploration and exploitation of hydrocarbons, transposition of the European Directive EU 2013/30, modification of the Presidential Decree 148/2009 and other provisions”

[ 2 ] DIRECTIVE 2013/30/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 12 June 2013 on safety of offshore oil and gas operations and amending Directive 2004/35/EC