European oil and gas exploration regulations and safety standards are in need of an overhaul, international pressure group Food and Water Europe has warned.

New Europe reports that the group has warned that unless regulations are tightened, there may soon be a major spill in the region such as that resulting from the collapse of the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

The organisation's executive director Wenonah Hauter said there were many lessons to be learnt from the BP spill, such as the dangers of lax regulation of deepwater drilling.

She explained that the failure to enforce engineering regulations has a knock-on effect on training and emergency planning.

Ken Abbott, a BP sub-contractor, said he uncovered a lack of rig construction documentation that has hampered training and emergency response operations.

The Deepwater Horizon spill is now the largest in US history, overtaking the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster.

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