FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
LONDON, 9 January, 1995 -- In a meeting today between Greenpeace International Executive Director Thilo Bode and Shell UK Chairman Dr Chris Fay, Shell expressed its confidence that the company would find alternatives to dumping the disused Brent Spar oil instillation at sea.
During the meeting to discuss the Brent Spar and other North Sea oil installations and the environmental implications of disposal options, Mr Bode requested that Shell prepare a comprehensive plan for the decommissioning of all of its oil installations on land.
Mr Bode pointed to a report by the industry association UKOOA (UK Offshore Operators Association), "Options For Oil And Gas Structures In The North Sea," which concludes that, on balance, the on-land disposal and recycling of oil rigs is preferable to sea dumping on environmental grounds.
Commissioned by the Aberdeen University group AURIS, the report states that for steel jackets, the steel structures of installations, "total removal and return to the shore for recycling is the best option".(1)
"It would be absurd and environmentally unacceptable to dump 6,700 tonnes of recyclable steel such as the Brent Spar into the sea," said Mr Bode after the meeting with Shell. "The UKOOA report supports common sense and environmental responsibility -- bring the oil platforms back on land, clean them up and reuse the steel. The dumping of such waste would not be acceptable for old cars or ships so why make an exception for oil platforms?"
The report also states that for the topside of structures (living and working quarters) "...returning material to the shore for recycling and disposal would be an attractive option. It removes potentially harmful material from the sea, eliminates a source of debris, and derives some benefit from the recycling of material and saving energy."(2)
A second report, commissioned by Greenpeace, entitled "A Case Study Of Onshore Decommissioning Of North Sea Oil Structures," (3) states that over 95 percent of the Brent Spar platform could be recycled using existing technology. This report was presented to Shell officials at the meeting today.
"Reports commissioned by both the oil industry and environmentalists have now stated that on-shore decommissioning of oil installations is the best environmental option," said Mr Bode. "Shell and other companies in the oil industry must now take this on board and draw up an action plan to return to land the dozens of North Sea oil installations soon to be obsolete."
Mr Bode added, "Greenpeace's Brent Spar campaign was about forcing industry to accept responsibility for the waste it creates and was launched with Shell's own information about the waste on board the Brent Spar. The subsequent error over oil samples - released only in the last few days of the
campaign - had absolutely no bearing on the strength of
Greenpeace's campaign, the validity of our arguments or the final success in preventing the dumping of the Brent Spar at sea."
Contact:
Blair Palese, Greenpeace Communications: +44171-833-0600
Adam Woolfe, Greenpeace UK: +44171-359-4837
Notes:
(1) "An Assessment of the Environmental impacts of decommissioning options for oil and gas structures in the UK North Sea," prepared for UKOOA by Auris Environmental, pp. 10-24.
(2) As above, pp. 10-24. For concrete gravity bases - of which there are only 9 out of 150 in the UK sector - this report recommends leaving the base "in situ". Greenpeace believes more research should be done to investigate means of removing concrete structures safely.
(3) "A Case Study of Onshore Decommissioning of North Sea Oil Structures - the Brent Spar," commissioned by Greenpeace, by Jay Rutovitz. Produced as evidence to the House of Lords Trade and Industry Sub Committee on decommissioning, October 1995.