Adopting risk governance in the offshore oil industry and in diverse cultural and geopolitical context: North Sea vs Eastern Mediterranean countries.

• Risk Governance pre-assessment stage is crucial in controversial activities, e.g. offshore oil industry. • Risk Governance models should not be transferred between different social, cultural and geopolitical contexts. • The North Sea risk governance institutional framework and culture can hardly fit Eastern Mediterranean countries. • Adopting "best practices" everywhere is not a panacea. • International conventions should take into account the diversity of cultural and geopolitical contexts. This paper presents and discusses actual and potential successes and failures in the transition of the Offshore Oil Industry from the risk management paradigm to the risk governance regime in three reference countries, namely the United Kingdom (UK) & Norway in the North and Greece in the South of Europe. The methodological approaches used in this research are both theoretical and empirical, such as: (a) a literature review on the transition from the Risk Analysis and Management to the Risk Governance paradigm; (b) a historical analysis of the institutional framework holding for Health and safety (H&S) at sea in connection with major disasters or accidents as milestone events; (c) analyses of the three countries' experiences and prospects regarding transition of their offshore oil industry to the risk governance model. Among the findings of the study is the necessity for a thorough review of the European Union (EU) legal framework in the area of Risk Governance at sea in order to take account of the cultural, socio-economic and geopolitical diversity among its Sea Regions. Mere transfer of the "best practices" from the European North to the South may create more tension, and may entail new or invigorate pre-existing geopolitical risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]