BP has issued a response to a joint report from the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) which criticises the company for failing to take adequate safety precautions on its offshore platforms in the North Sea.

Speaking to the Aberdeen Press and Journal, company spokesperson Matt Taylor said that the company had already launched internal programmes to resolve the problems outlined in the report prior to its publication.

"Let's not lose sight of the fact that BP's safety performance in the North Sea continues to improve, at a time when the performance of some rivals isn't getting better," he told the paper.

His comments came after the Financial Times published the findings of the joint report using freedom of information legislation.

Documents revealed that the DECC and the HSE criticised BP for failing to enforce adequate safety training on its offshore oil and gas platforms in the North Sea.

Oil and Gas Directory: Training and Development