Environmental activist group Greenpeace claims that leaked correspondence between the U.K. government and Shell Exploration & Production may show that the Department of Trade & Industry (DTI)-and not Shell-favored a controversial plan to dump the idled Brent spar at sea.
Greenpeace said 24 letters between DTI and Shell were passed to Labour Party Member of Parliament Frank Dobson, who in turn handed them to Greenpeace.
Greenpeace was the prime mover in a huge international protest movement, which led to Shell's decision to abort dumping of the derelict loading buoy in 1995 (OGJ, June 26, 1995, p. 21).
Greenpeace believes the correspondence shows that government intended dumping of Brent spar to set a precedent for deepwater disposal of other U.K. offshore installations, at three identified sites.
Letters cited
It quoted one 1994 letter from Shell to DTI as saying, "It would assist our efforts to pursue industry funding through Ukooa (U.K. Offshore Operators Association) if a statement could be provided on the general applicability of the proposed abandonment sites to other oil industry users."
Throughout the campaign against dumping Brent spar, Greenpeace repeatedly said one reason it opposed the disposal plan was that it feared this would be taken as a precedent, while the government stated disposals would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis (OGJ, Mar. 20, 1995, p. 31).
A 1992 letter from Shell to DTI said, "You requested a note outlining the relevant factors that might influence a decision to permit dumping of the Brent spar rather than demolition and scrapping."
A 1994 letter from DTI to Shell discussed Shell's request to be allowed to begin formal consultation over Brent spar disposal options and said, "I see no difficulty with this as long as it is recognized that such consultations are without prejudice to the final decision on deep sea disposal and that this position is made clear to the consultees."
A Greenpeace official said one reading of the correspondence is that DTI, and not Shell, favored dumping Brent spar at sea.
DTI responds
A DTI official told OGJ the papers referred to by Greenpeace were copied to Dobson in February 1996 and were deposited in the House of Commons library, "and in that sense in the public domain."
The official said the government never had any intention for Brent spar to set a precedent for disposal: "Government made it clear that decommissioning of offshore installations would be considered on an individual basis, in the light of a comparative assessment of options based on sound science, taking account of the environment, safety, technical feasibility and cost."
The official said DTI has approved 12 abandonment plans to date, and of these, only Brent spar has involved deepwater disposal.
However, the bulk of the platforms removed have been in water less than 55 m deep, and so had to be completely removed according to international maritime law (OGJ, June 3, 1996, p. 18).
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