Greenpeace has apologized to Shell U.K. Exploration & Production over erroneous claims the militant environmental group made about the amount of toxic waste remaining on board the defunct Brent spar loading buoy.
The spar is currently moored in a Norwegian yard while an independent inventory is made of materials and residues in the buoy. This survey will form the basis of future discussions between Shell and the U.K. government over eventual disposal of the buoy, a hot issue raised by Greenpeace.
Greenpeace apology
Peter Melchett, executive director of Greenpeace U.K., last week sent a letter of apology to Chris Fay, chairman and chief executive of Shell U.K. Ltd.
"We were concerned that no full analysis had been done of the contents of the Brent spar prior to your decision to dump it," Melchett wrote.
"Greenpeace therefore took some samples from a storage tank on Brent Spar during our occupation."
Melchett said two tanks could not be sampled because their vent pipes were blocked with oily sludge. From another tank, a sample was mistakenly taken from an inlet rather than from within the tank.
Melchett wrote, "In many references to our sampling, we stressed that the results were not definitive. But I'm afraid that in writing to you and your colleagues on the Shell U.K. board on June 19, I said our sampling showed a particular quantity of oil on the Brent spar. That was wrong, and I apologize to you and your colleagues for this."
However, Melchett said Shell's scientific evidence justifying the original plan to dump the buoy in deep water contained fundamental flaws.
The right direction
Speaking to journalists at the Offshore Europe conference in Aberdeen last week, Fay said, Shell welcomed the Greenpeace letter, which he viewed as another step in the right direction in the Brent spar debate.
Fay said results of the inventory of Brent spar contents are expected in October, but it will be early 1996 at the soonest before results of a full analysis of new Brent spar disposal options are available.
"The bottom line is to ensure that all parties are comfortable with the solution we come up with," Fay said.
"All along we have tried to maintain a professional line over disposal of Brent spar. We have tried to go fully into the open on all issues. In the original inventory we multiplied all our figures by two as a security measure."
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