Most EU countries ban platform dumping

Fifteen European countries have banned offshore disposal of oil and gas platforms, following a meeting of the Oslo-Paris (Ospar) Convention of environment ministers at Sintra, Portugal, late last month. The countries are mainly European Union members, and the ban is seen as a direct result of a European Commission decision to push for a Europe-wide agreement to dispose of offshore installations onshore (OGJ, Feb. 9, 1998, p. 31).

Aug. 3, 1998

3 min read

The countries are mainly European Union members, and the ban is seen as a direct result of a European Commission decision to push for a Europe-wide agreement to dispose of offshore installations onshore (OGJ, Feb. 9, 1998, p. 31).

What it means

U.K. Energy Minister John Battle said, "The agreement means large steel platforms will not be disposed of at sea. The toppling of these large structures has also been banned.

"Topsides of all installations will now be brought ashore for recycling or final disposal, along with the largest proportion of the very heavy steel structures."

Exceptions to the total removal edict are large concrete platform bases, which will be disposed of in the field. Also, the footings of large steel platform jackets-to which external pile guide clusters are attached-can be considered for leaving in place.

"Decisions on what to do with the footings of installations (platform jackets) larger than 10,000 metric tons will be made on a case-by-case basis following wide consultation," said Battle. "The presumption will be for removal where this is safe and practicable."

The U.K Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) said that there are 123 large steel platforms in the Ospar countries' offshore area, including 34 off the U.K., with jackets of more than 10,000 tons.

DTI said the footings represent about 25% of the weight of the jackets noting that "ellipse75% of the weight will be brought to land. All smaller and lighter steel structures will be returned to shore whenever safe and practicable."

Reactions

The U.K. Offshore Operators Association (Ukooa) said the decision in favor of removing all structures weighing under 10,000 tons appears to have been based on political expediency rather than on sound scientific assessment and practical realities.

Ukooa Director-Gen. James May said, "Although the decision taken by the ministers does provide some clarity to the issue of decommissioning, we fear that the assessment of individual cases in the consultation process, which would precede any platform decommissionings in the future, will again be carried out in a climate of political compromise rather than through objective scientific reasoning."

Environmental campaign group Greenpeace said the Ospar agreement puts the onus back onto the offshore industry to prove that removing platform footings from the seabed would be unsafe and impracticable.

Sarah Burton, Greenpeace U.K. campaign director, said: "Greenpeace is confident that this decision means no installation will be dumped and no footings will be left in the North Sea.

"None of the footings are due to be decommissioned in the next 5 years, during which the engineering industry, which already says it is capable of removing them, will have made technological advances to meet all the safety and practicability criteria."

The Ospar convention was agreed to in 1992 to replace the Oslo Convention for the Prevention of Marine Pollution. Ospar members are Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Finland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, U.K., Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland.