GREENPEACE WELCOMES START OF OPERATIONS TO BRING ODIN ASHORE

PRESS RELEASE

GREENPEACE WELCOMES START OF OPERATIONS TO BRING ODIN ASHORE
AMSTERDAM, SEPTEMBER 23rd 1996
Greenpeace today welcomed the start of the operation to bring ashore for dismantling the recently decommissioned Odin platform off the West coast of Norway. The operators of the platform, Esso, had previously proposed to dump the jacket in situ as a solution for disposing the installation. The Norwegian government then refused permission to dump and stated that the entire structure should be brought ashore, a decision which Greenpeace strongly supported.
"The fact that the Odin platform and jacket are being brought ashore illustrates the feasibility of on-shore dismantling, recycling and re-use of large decommissioned offshore structures" said Paul Horsman, Greenpeace International Oil Campaigner. "The Norwegian government should be congratulated in making Esso remove their industrial waste from the sea to be dismantled in a controlled environment ashore."
Greenpeace recognizes that the best possible practice is to bring these installations ashore. This view has been reflected at the last North Sea Ministers' Conference (1) and in the Decision 95/1 made by the Member states of the Oslo Commission (2) last year. These decisions (3) were made in the knowledge of the increasing number of offshore installations which are approaching the time of their decommissioning.
More than 400 platforms exist in the area of the North Sea between the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark and the Netherlands, consisting of a total of 2.5 million tonnes of steel, 190,000 tonnes of alluminium, 180,000 tonnes of stainless steel and 170,000 tonnes of copper. Among them, there are 70 potential candidates for dumping at sea and, in order to recognize the full potential for recycle and re-use, all these platforms should be brought ashore.
Following last year's successful campaign to prevent the dumping of Shell's Brent Spar offshore installation, Greenpeace noted that all installations decommissioned since then have been brought to shore for dismantling. end

NOTES:
(1) The 4th Ministerial Conference on the Protection of the North Sea in Esbjerg, Denmark, on June 8-9 stated that:
[...] The Ministers are aware that an increasing number of offshore installations in the North Sea are approaching the time of their decommissioning. Even if the offshore installations are emptied of noxious and hazardous materials, they might still if dumped or left at sea, pose a threat to the marine environment. Disposal of such installations on land by recycling recyclable materials and by ensuring safe and controlled disposal of unavoidable residues would be in accordance with generally agreed principles of waste management policy. (4th Ministerial Declaration on the Protection of the North Sea, Paragraph 54)
(2) The Oslo Commission (OSCOM) regulates the dumping of wastes at sea in the North East Atlantic. In adopting the OSCOM Decision 95/1 at their meeting in Brussels in June 1995, the Member states decided: To agree on a moratorium on the disposal at sea of decommissioned offshore installations until the Oslo Commission or a Commission in its succession has adopted a Decision on the disposal of offshore installations with a view to banning the disposal of such installations at sea. (Operative Paragraph 1 of OSCOM Decision 95/1)
(3) Norway and the United Kingdom both filed reservations on Paragraph 54 of the 4th North Sea Declaration and OSCOM Decision 95/1. The fact that Odin is being brought ashore illustrates that there are no technical reasons for continuing with these reservations.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
- Luisa Colasimone, Greenpeace Communications (Amsterdam), phone +31 20 52 - 36 222/ 49 546
- Paul Horsman, Greenpeace International, phone.+31 20 523 6222; mobile +31 653 235 057
- Kalle Hesstvedt, Greenpeace Norway, phone. +47 22 20 51 01