Norwegian Gas Rig to Come Ashore

[the.greenbase@green2.greenpeace.org]

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Original-TO:      World Press (Green2:Green2:Gnl:INET)
Original-Cc:      The Greenbase (Green2:Green2:Gnl:Main)
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               GREENPEACE PRESS RELEASE
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>> GREENPEACE APPLAUDS NORWEGIAN GOVERNMENT DECISION 
ON GAS RIG  
 
OSLO, 8 March 1996 (GP) Greenpeace today applauded the
Norwegian Government's decision to reject oil company Esso's
proposal to dump the 7000 tonne steel jacket of its Odin rig
into the North Sea, and called on the Government to legislate
against this type of sea dumping altogether. 
 
The proposal by Esso to dump the jacket of the Odin rig into
the North Sea off Bergen was against the company's own
environmental advice, which claimed that the steel could be
recycled on land, creating 200 jobs for Norwegians, plus a
substantial economic gain. 
 
"The Norwegian Government is acting very sensibly in favour of
sustainable environmental practice," said Greenpeace Norway's
Katrin Glatz Brubakk. "We now need to see the Government pass
legislation ensuring that all oil installations are
decommissioned on land,"  said Brubakk. 
 
"There is also no reason why Norway and the UK Governments
cannot join the vast majority of nations that have already
signed onto the Oslo Paris Commission's ban on the dumping of
all offshore installations at sea [1]," she said.   
 
Had the dumping gone ahead, it would have set a precedent for
the dumping of up to 416 oil rigs in the North Sea's Norwegian
and UK offshore oil sectors, said Brubakk.
 
She noted that the onshore disposal of the Odin rig was the
third such decision since Shell reversed its plan to dump its
Brent Spar last year.  Elf's North East Frigg in Norway and
the
installations in the Emerald field off Scotland will both be
brought ashore.  
 
The environmental and economic gains of investing in such a
policy would be far more beneficial than the current "case by
case" policy adopted by both countries. 
 
Esso also proposed to leave a further 6000 tonnes of steel
pipeline in situ on the sea floor.   The Norwegian Department
of Trade and Industry has not yet decided on the future of the
pipeline, giving a four year delay to that decision. 
Greenpeace said that there was no reason why the pipeline
should not be dismantled on land also when the Frigg field is
decommissioned.  
The dumping of the Odin's steel structure would have been the
equivalent of the Norwegian Government allowing Esso to dump
7,000 cars into the ocean, she said. 
 
Greenpeace International's Executive Director Thilo Bode
yesterday sent a letter to Norwegian Prime Minister Gro Harlem
Brundtland, calling on her to recognise the environmental
unsustainability of such a move.  Greenpeace Norway also
placed an advertisement in Norwegian papers today urging the
Government to reject Esso's application. 
 
Esso had proposed to turn the rig's structure into an
"artificial reef", but this idea had been vigorously opposed
by the Norwegian fishermen.  "This was an attempt by Esso to
look green while turning the North Sea into a scrapyard," said

Brubakk. 
 
                             ends
 
[1] The Oslo Paris Commission last June adopted a ban on the
dumping of offshore oil installations in the North East
Atlantic, "....due to the fact that the disposal at sea of
decommissioned offshore installations cannot be considered to
be a sustainable practice which takes into account the
precautionary approach..."  
Norway and the UK have both lodged objections to this ban,
arguing that the rigs should be looked at on a case by case
basis.

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