By Ed Crooks: Published: October 24 2006 03:00 | Last updated: October 24 2006 03:00
The decommissioning of North Sea installations first emerged as a public issue in 1995, with the row over the disposal of Brent Spar, writes Ed Crooks.
It was a huge oil storage and loading buoy, brought into use in 1976 before the Brent field was connected to pipelines. It went out of service in 1991, and Shell, its owner, spent two years consulting on what should be done with it.
Sinking it deep in the North Sea was judged the cheapest and safest solution, with “minimal environmental impact”, Shell said. This was a view backed by an Aberdeen university study and then approved by the government at the end of 1994.
In the spring and summer of 1995, however, Greenpeace launched a spectacularly effective public campaign against Shell’s plans, using the Brent Spar as a symbol of what it saw as a much wider problem of dumping waste at sea.
Headline-grabbing tactics, including the occupation of Brent Spar, succeeded in creating a storm of protest.
By June, things had turned ugly. In Germany two Shell service stations were fire-bombed. Soon afterwards, Shell backed down on its plans, and Brent Spar was towed to Norway, where eventually it was broken up. Sections of it were cleaned and cut up to be used as the basis of a new quay for car ferries at Mekjarvik.
Subsequently Greenpeace’s opponents claimed victory after it was forced to admit that its claim that there had been more than 5,550 tonnes of oil on Brent Spar was wrong.
But the group argues to this day that it was right to warn of the dangers or pollution it represented and right to take a stand against disposal at sea, to prevent a precedent being set.
Shell said later that the lesson was that it needed to consult in a much more public way about its decommissioning plans. It has since become an industry-wide source of expertise on the subject.
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2006
ShellNews.net comment (by John Donovan): This article neglects to mention that Shell used illegal undercover operations mounted by a private intelligence agency (a spy firm headed by titled senior Shell directors) to infiltrate Greenpeace and other perceived enemies: check out the link below.
http://shellnews.net/2004%20Documents/sundaytimes/sundaytimesspied8april.htm
This website and sisters royaldutchshellplc.com, shellnazihistory.com, royaldutchshell.website, johndonovan.website, and shellnews.net, are owned by John Donovan. There is also a Wikipedia segment.
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
