Phillips Petroleum Co. U.K. Ltd. has revealed it expects to cease production from the U.K. North Sea's Maureen field in 1997-98.
A Phillips official told a press briefing Maureen platform might then be reused: "It's the one facility in the North Sea with which this can be done."
The company also is considering deep sea dumping. The official said Phillips, like other U.K. operators, is watching the Greenpeace protest on Brent spar with great interest.
What they will see is a situation in which an oil company can lose a lot of money, while lawyers and offshore contractors stand to gain.
Greenpeace seized control of the idle Brent spar loading buoy Apr. 30 in a bid to keep it from being dumped in the Atlantic Ocean this summer (OGJ, May 8, p. 25).
Brent operator Shell U.K. Exploration & Production, the 50-50 combine of Shell U.K. Ltd. and Esso Exploration & Production U.K. Ltd., applied May 18 to Edinburgh Court of Sessions for a warrant to remove about a dozen Greenpeace activists from the installation.
ONE-MAN WARRANT
However, the judge granted a warrant to remove only one man. This was Jonathan Castle, normally a Greenpeace vessel captain but then leader of the Brent spar occupation.
The judge said warrants for the other protesters could not be granted because the law requires warrants to be issued against named people. The court did not know the activists' names.
Shell also has attempted a counterattack. At 2:45 a.m. May 22, the Stadive construction vessel operated by Rockwater Ltd., Aberdeen, drew alongside the spar.
For 2 hr, said a Greenpeace spokeswoman, the Stadive crew tried to rig up a basket on the end of a crane with which to lift off the protesters. A force 7 gale prevented the operation.
Waiting on board Stadive for better weather were Rockwater's crew, two Grampian police officers, and a team of sheriff's officers. The latter were charged with taking Castle back to shore' where he will be required under the warrant to provide names and addresses of fellow activists on the spar.
LEGAL SWORDPLAY
Greenpeace is likely to respond to removal of Castle by performing a "crew" change on the spar, so his list of names will be useless. And pursuing further warrants would most likely trigger more crew changes.
However, Shell-Esso also has some fancy legal swordplay in mind.
Apparently the Minerals Workings Act says an offshore installation manager (OIM) can remove people from an installation if he thinks they are a risk to safety. Shell-Esso has a fully briefed Brent spar OIM waiting in the wings.
"The sea itself has granted us a stay of execution today," said Greenpeace campaigner Chris Rose on May 22. "We're determined to stay on the Brent spar platform until Shell and the U.K. government abandon their plans to dump this highly toxic platform."
The two policemen will not arrest anyone. Their role, said a police spokesman, is "purely to protect life and preserve order."
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