UPDATE 1-European nations agree oil review after BP spill

* 15 countries agree to review rules after BP spill

* Oppose partial moratorium proposed by Germany

* Disappoints environmentalists who want drill moratorium

(Recasts with accord, updates throughout)

By Alister Doyle

OSLO, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Fifteen European nations agreed on Thursday to review rules for new oil drilling permits in extreme environments after BP Plc's Gulf of Mexico spill earlier this year.

A partial moratorium proposed by Germany was rejected.

"The compromise proposal was agreed," said Gard Nybro-Nielsen, spokesman for the Norwegian Environment Ministry at the Sept. 23-24 talks among environment ministers in Bergen, West Norway.

The 15 countries in the OSPAR group, which oversees the North East Atlantic, backed a text calling for "a review of existing regulatory frameworks, including the permitting of drilling activities in extreme conditions."

The text supplanted an initial German proposal for the ministers to agree a "moratorium on certain new oil exploration activities in deep waters" after BP's deep-sea well ruptured in April and caused the worst spill in U.S. history.

Nybro-Nielsen said the OSPAR countries decided to put off any possible stronger measures until after the U.S. government had concluded its own review of BP's spill.

The compromise text was worked out by officials from Norway, Britain, Germany, Denmark and the Netherlands.

Truls Gulowsen of environmental group Greenpeace said Thursday's accord marked a "full victory for the oil industry."

Greenpeace favored a wider moratorium than proposed by Germany, he said. Most nations have already agreed to review their national rules after BP's blowout.

The adopted text said nations would also apply lessons from BP's spill and assess "the need for action within the scope of the OSPAR Convention."

The original German proposal had said new, complex deep-water exploration should start only "if it has been established that the highest safety regulations are in place or existing regulations have been adjusted to that standard."

Apart from BP's spill, the German proposal had also noted accidents in the North East Atlantic, such as the explosion of the Piper Alpha platform off Britain in 1998 that killed 166 people or a 1977 blowout at the Ekofisk field off Norway.

OSPAR is named after deals in Oslo and Paris and seeks to protect the North East Atlantic region, from the North Pole to the Azores.

Ministers are set to work out new ways to safeguard the seas, for instance with large new offshore protected areas. (Reporting by Alister Doyle; editing by James Jukwey and Sofina Mirza-Reid) For Reuters latest environment blogs, click on: blogs.reuters.com/environment/