COM(82)374 Final Brussels - 22 June 1982
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ARCHIVES HISTORIQUES DE LA COMMISSION COLLECTION RELIEE DES DOCUMENTS "COM" COM (82) 374 Vol. 1982/0130 Disclaimer Conformément au règlement (CEE, Euratom) n° 354/83 du Conseil du 1er février 1983 concernant l'ouverture au public des archives historiques de la Communauté économique européenne et de la Communauté européenne de l'énergie atomique (JO L 43 du 15.2.1983, p. 1), tel que modifié par le règlement (CE, Euratom) n° 1700/2003 du 22 septembre 2003 (JO L 243 du 27.9.2003, p. 1), ce dossier est ouvert au public. Le cas échéant, les documents classifiés présents dans ce dossier ont été déclassifiés conformément à l'article 5 dudit règlement. In accordance with Council Regulation (EEC, Euratom) No 354/83 of 1 February 1983 concerning the opening to the public of the historical archives of the European Economic Community and the European Atomic Energy Community (OJ L 43, 15.2.1983, p. 1), as amended by Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1700/2003 of 22 September 2003 (OJ L 243, 27.9.2003, p. 1), this file is open to the public. Where necessary, classified documents in this file have been declassified in conformity with Article 5 of the aforementioned regulation. In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom 1. Februar 1983 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft und der Europäischen Atomgemeinschaft (ABI. L 43 vom 15.2.1983, S. 1), geändert durch die Verordnung (EG, Euratom) Nr. 1700/2003 vom 22. September 2003 (ABI. L 243 vom 27.9.2003, S. 1), ist diese Datei der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich. Soweit erforderlich, wurden die Verschlusssachen in dieser Datei in Übereinstimmung mit Artikel 5 der genannten Verordnung freigegeben. COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES COM(82)374 final Brussels - 22 June 1982 i REPORT FROM THE COMMISSION TO PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL on the application of Regulation ( EEC ) No 3056 / 73 on the support of Community projects in the hydrocarbons sector ( Application of Article 10 of the above Regulation ) C0M(82 ) 374 final CONTENTS Page I. INTRODUCTION 1 II . IMPLEMENTATION OF PROGRAMME 1 III . PRELIMINARY RESULTS 4 IV . DISSEMINATION OF INFORMATION • 5 V. FINANCIAL SITUATION ' 6 VI . CONCLUSIONS 9 VII . ANNEX I - TABLE 1 10 TABLE 2 11 TABLE 3 13 TABLE 4 14 VIII . ANNEX II - TECHNICAL RESULTS OF THE PROJECTS 15 I. INTRODUCTION 1 . On 9 November 1973 the Council of the European Communities adopted Regulation ( EEC) No . 3056 /73 on the support of Community projects in 1 ) the hydrocarbons sector 2 . The subsidies granted under the Regulation, repayable if the results of the project are exploited commercial ly , are intended to promote such activities of prospecting for , producing , storing , or transport ing hydrocarbons as are likely to improve the security of the Community 's energy supplies . 3 . Pursuant to Article 10 of Regulation 3056 /73 , which provides that "the Commission shall submit an annual report on the application of this Regulation to the European Parliament and the Council , which shall express its opinion on the report ", the first report covering the imple mentation of the first series of projects granted financial support , 2) was published in December 1976 . A symposium in Luxembourg in April 1979 highlighted the first results attained . The detailed record of the symposium was published in two volumes „ A further report appeared 4) in May 1980 and the present report analyses the progress made in implementing this support programme up to 31 December 1981 . II . IMPLEMENTATION OF PROGRAMME 4 . Since 1973 , 410 Projects promoted by 240 Community businesses have been submitted in reply to the Commission 's invitation to apply for financial support . 1 ) 0J L 312 of 13 November 1973 2 ) C0MC76) 709 Final 3) Doc . EUR 6299 4) C0MC80) 260 Final ./2 - 2 - Following a Commission proposal , the Council granted a total of 240 million ECU in financial support to cover the completion of 1 242 of these projects . On average the Community provided 35 A of the finance for each project . 5 . The Regulation provided that any financial support granted could take the form of Loans, loan guarantees, or subsidies repayable under certain conditions . In fact , the formula applied to all the contracts was that of a subsidy repayable in the event of the results of the project being commercially exploited . 6 . In accordance with Art . 5.2 of the Regulation, the main criteria used by the Commission in selecting projects to submit to the Council were as follows : i ) The contribution the project would make towards increasing the Community 's resources in hydrocarbons ; ii ) the amount of innovative technology to be used as compared with the state of the art ; iii ) the nature and extent of the risks involved and the project 's estimated profitability ; iv ) the technical capacities and financial situation of those res ponsible for the project . 1 ) - Council Decision of 19 December 1974 on the support of Community projects in the hydrocarbons sector ( Doc . R / 3600 /74) ; - Council Decision of 4 May 1976 on the support of Community projects in the hydrocarbons sector ( Doc . R /854 / 76) ; - Council Decision of 25 October 1977 on the support of Community projects in the hydrocarbons sector ( Doc . R / 2416 /77); - Council Decision of 30 October 1978 on the support of Community projects in the hydrocarbons sector ( Doc . R / 2671 /78 ); - Council Decision of 29 October 1979 on the granting of support for Community projects in the hydrocarbons sector ( 0J L 281 of 10 Nov . 1979); - Council Decision of 27 October 1980 on the granting of support for Community projects in the hydrocarbons sector ( Doc . 10142 /80 ENER 111 ); - Council Decision of 27 October 1981 on the granting of support for Community projects in the hydrocarbons sector ( Doc . 10024/81 ENER 114) . ... The Commission first ascertained that the projects would not have been undertaken or would have been subject to long delays had they not received financial assistance from the Community . To avoid duplication by other techniques concurrently being developed, the Commission persuaded companies to cooperate and , where necessary, to form associations to carry out certain projects . Finally, greater operating safety and the state in which installations had been maintained were also taken into account . The amount of support granted , which under the Regulation was not to exceed 50% of total investments, was fixed on the basis of the risks incurred in each project and the expected results as regards securing suppl i es . Projects likely to increase supplies substantial ly or to speed up the exploitation of the Communi ty ' s resources received maximum support ( 40%' . Transport and storage projects and projects for the developmen of services ( which are important because they often help to eliminate obstacles to production^ were given slightly lower rates of support ( 25 - 35%) . In all cases the aim was to achieve a multiplier effect in order to limit the Community 's financial contribution to the minimum . Support was given to all aspects of advanced oil technology from geophysical prospecting to drilling techniques and from production in deep water or difficult environments ( parti cular ly arctic zones ) to pipeline transportation and underwater storage tanks . In the last few years particular attention has been paid to enhanced recovery or heavy oil production techniques aimed at rapidly bringing into production resources in known deposits which have remained unexploited so far because there are no appropriate techniques . - 4- 9 . As can be seen from Annex I , Table 1 , about 70% of the support made available has gone to production techniques and 17% to transport ; the remainder has been divided between prpspecting , exploration and storage . Enhanced recovery and the treatment of heavy oils, the latter sector which received little support to start with, has now been granted 44% of the appropriations available for the latest series of projects ( 1981 ) . 10 . Most of the companies receiving financial support are in the oil- related sector, i.e. engineering companies and manufacturers of special equipment . The latter have been responsible for the design and construction of oil installations, whilst trials under actual pr production conditions were carried out by the oil companies ; the latter alone can decide on the criteria to be satisfied by the engineers * technological developments and they own the oilfields on which the equipment could be perfected . Their share of the support granted by the Community came to about 30% of the total . III . PRELIMINARY RESULTS 11 . A project normally takes three to four years to complete and two more t years are required before a new technique can be exploited commercially . So far, therefore, any assessment of the results will be only partial and will cover only some projects launched during the first four years ( 1974-1978 ) . The results already seem to be very substantial . A detailed analysis is given in Annex II . Among the most significant achievements the following are worth mentioning : a ) the sub-sea pipeline laying trials in the Straits of Messina and the Sicilian Channel have resulted in a completed sub-sea pipeline linking Algeria and Italy . The pipeline came into service at the end of 1981 ; b ) the installation of drilling equipment on board the dynamically positioned drill ships "Petrel ", "Ben Ocean Lancer " and "P&Lerin " ... 15 - 5 - which are capable of drilling at sea at great depths ( up to 1,000 m ); exploration programmes using these vessels began in 1978 ; c ) in the field of deep-sea _ production, the use of articulated columns , floating platforms, risers and underwater storage containers, the results obtained so far also show that an underwater production system operated entirely by remote control is viable; d ) the completion of pilot projects involving the enhanced recovery of hydrocarbons ; the data obtained should mean that in the near future it will be possible to perfect industrial sale techniques for enhanced recovery, thereby improving the rate of recovery from currently exploited fields .