London--18 October 1995--Greenpeace today welcomed the first independent inventory of the contents of the Brent Spar, saying it was a first and totally necessary step towards any reasonable decision about which land-based decommissioning process should be taken. Greenpeace also welcomes Shell's very firm statement today that it will not dump the Brent Spar at sea.
Click here for table of contents of Brent Spar from DNV survey compared with Shell estimates.
"It is good that we now have credible results," said Geir Wang- Andersen of Greenpeace International. "This shows that the Greenpeace campaign and the Greenpeace position on decommissioning of oil installations was and is right, because it is totally unacceptable to dump this kind of waste into the oceans."
When Greenpeace began its campaign to stop the Brent Spar from being dumped, the only information to hand was Shell's estimation that it contained 100 tonnes of sludge containing various toxic elements and 30 tonnes of low-level radioactive waste. In the absence of a full inventory Greenpeace, during our occupation, attempted to find out what was on the Brent Spar. The estimates resulting from this sampling were in no way central to the campaign and indeed, were later withdrawn by Greenpeace.
If Greenpeace had not campaigned against the dumping of the Brent Spar this installation would now be at the bottom of the ocean and nobody would know what was really in it, nor the environmental impact that could be occurring.
Greenpeace notes that there is now a ban on the dumping of oil installations anywhere in the North East Atlantic and the North Sea -- a legal ban adopted at the Oslo Paris Commission meeting in June this year [1].
"Today's information now means that the best method of decommissioning the Brent Spar on land can be decided properly, with all the facts before us, instead of the previous 'dump and hope for the best' situation," said Wang-Anderson.
"Greenpeace's total opposition to the dumping of oil installations remains firm. Nobody should use the oceans as a dumpsite."
Greenpeace welcomed Shell's decision to conduct a new study on the disposal of Brent Spar, looking into more than 200 options of landbased disposal.
For more information, please contact Cindy Baxter, Greenpeace Communications ++44 171 833 0600
Notes to Editors
[1] The Oslo Paris Commission met in late June this year, and agreed a total ban on the dumping of oil installations in the North East Atlantic. The UK and Norway have lodged reservations to this ban. This followed the North Sea Ministers meeting in Esbjerg on 8/9 June where all countries bordering the North Sea, except the UK and Norway, agreed to ban the dumping of oil installations.
(2) A UN meeting in Washington next week, attended by governments from around the world, will focus on the worrying issue of ocean pollution, particularly toxic chemicals, from land based sources -- a growing global concern and one which the oil industry ought to take into account in its exploration.