Brent Spar

Read the timeline of the Brent Spar story.

June 1976 - Brent Spar installed in Brent Field, a unique design for oil storage and tanker loading. Two of the six tanks were later damaged in operation. Structure also later found to have been stressed during installation making major difficulties in reversing procedure to raise from water.

September 1991 - Brent Spar ceases operating.

1991-1993 -  Detailed decommissioning studies carried out by Shell and independent external organisations and contractors to assess options.  Two compared in detail - horizontal onshore dismantling and deep sea disposal with deep sea emerging with six times lower safety risks, four times less cost and minimal environmental impact.

February 1994 - Independent Aberdeen University study (AURIS) endorses choice of deep sea disposal. Formal consultations with conservation bodies and fishing interests. Draft Abandonment Plan submitted.

December 1994 - Shell submits final Abandonment Plan to UK Government Department of Trade and Industry and receives approval.

February 1995 - UK Government announces approval for deep sea disposal and notifies 13 other contracting parties (12 nations and EC), signatories to the Oslo Convention covering protection of the marine environment. No objections raised within normal time limit. Shell announces deep sea disposal plan.

30 April 1995 - Greenpeace activists occupy Spar, wrongly alleging Spar is `a toxic timebomb'; `14,500 tonnes of toxic rubbish'; or contains `over 100 tonnes of toxic sludge'. Over next months they say Spar will be `dumped in the North Sea' rather than disposed at a carefully selected site in the deep Atlantic and suggest `more than 400 oil rigs in the North Sea' might also be `dumped'. They say Spar contains 5,550 tonnes of oil.

5 May 1995 - UK Government grants disposal licence to Shell UK.

9 May 1995 - German Ministry of the Environment protests against disposal plan.

13 May 1995 - Independent UK scientists begin stating support for deep sea disposal for Brent Spar.

23 May 1995 - Activists removed from Spar.  Greenpeace calls for Shell boycott in Continental Europe.

8-9 June 1995 - Fourth North Sea Conference at Esbjerg, Denmark. Several European countries now call for onshore disposal for all oil installations. UK and Norway, the countries with the largest, heaviest, and most difficult deep water structures, argue for `case-by-case'.

11 June 1995 - Shell UK begins to tow Spar to deep Atlantic disposal site.

15-17 June 1995 - Public opinion in continental northern Europe strongly opposed. Chancellor Kohl protests to UK Prime Minister John Major at G7 summit.

14-20 June 1995 - Protesters in Germany threaten to damage 200 Shell service stations. 50 are subsequently damaged, two fire-bombed and one raked with bullets.

20 June 1995 - Several continental northern European governments now indicate opposition.  Shell UK decides to halt disposal plan in view of untenable position caused by European political shifts, increased safety risks from violence and need for more reasoned discussion.

Late June 1995 - UK scentific debate intensifies, with growing support for Shell approach to environmental decision-making based on reason and sound science.

26-30 June 1995 - Eleven states call for a moratorium on sea disposal of decommissioned offshore installations at meeting of Oslo and Paris Commissions.  Opposed by Britain and Norway.

7 July 1995 - Norway grants permission to moor Spar in Erfjord while Shell reconsiders options.

12 July 1995 - Shell UK commissions independent Norwegian foundation Det Norske Veritas (DNV) to conduct another audit of Spar's contents and investigate Greenpeace allegations.

12/18 July 1995 - UK Government makes clear that any new plan for which Shell UK seeks approval must be at least as good or better than deep sea disposal on the Best Practicable Environmental Option (BPEO) criteria.

26 August 1995 - UK television executives admit to lack of objectivity and balance in coverage of the Spar story, and to using dramatic film footage from Greenpeace which eclipsed the facts.

5 September 1995 - Greenpeace admits inaccurate claims that Spar contains 5,500 tonnes of oil and apologises to Shell.

8 September 1995 - After a meeting between Chris Fay, Chairman and Chief Executive of Shell UK and Peter Melchett, Executive Director of Greenpeace UK, Greenpeace says it recognises that Shell UK must work within the legal framework of UK Government policy and the BPEO.

11 September 1995 - UK scientists reiterate support for rational, science-based environmental decisions at British Association for the Advancement of Science.

June - October 1995 - Shell receives more than 200 proposals for onshore disposal or re-use of Spar.

11 October 1995 - Shell Exploration & Production (Shell Expro) outlines new `Way Forward' to find a solution for Spar disposal or re-use. Notice placed in the Official Journal of the European Communities inviting expressions of interest from major contractors. Their submissions, with the 200 unsolicited proposals, to be analysed to produce a `Long List' of 20 to 30 organisations then to be asked to meet pre-qualification criteria.

18 October 1995 - Det Norske Veritas (DNV) present results of their independent audit, endorsing the thoroughness and professional competence with which Shell and its consultants prepared the original Spar inventory. DNV confirm that the amount of oil claimed by Greenpeace to be in the Spar was "grossly overestimated".

30 November 1995 - DNV further report no PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) on Brent Spar.

22 March 1996 - Shell Expro launch original Brent Spar Website.

22 May 1996 - `Scientific Group on Decommissioning Offshore Structures' report published by the Natural Environment Research Council confirming earlier Shell studies that environmental effects of deep sea disposal of Spar would have been very small and localised.

3 July 1996 - Shell announces `Long List' - 21 leading contractors from eight nations on the challenge to find the BPEO for Brent Spar. Competitors given four weeks to develop outline concepts.

New structural analysis confirms that reversing Spar's original installation procedure to raise it out of the sea for dismantling would be far from straightforward.

Shell outlines how the new Spar Dialogue will help Shell identify a solution by gathering a wide range of views and values.

31 July 1996 - 30 outline proposals for Brent Spar disposal submitted by Long List contractors.

15 August 1996 - Shell publishes Long List outline proposals.

1 November 1996 - First Brent Spar Dialogue Seminar in London - managed and facilitated for Shell by The Environment Council, an independent charity which helps different interest groups work together to find common ground.

13 January 1997 - Shell announces `Short List' - six leading international contractors and consortia to develop in detail 11 different ideas for re-using or scrapping Spar.

Short List contractors given four months to complete studies and make detailed commercial bids.

20 February 1997 - Det Norske Veritas (DNV) commissioned to carry out independent evaluation of proposals to ensure technical, safety and environmental aspects of each bid can be compared on a like-for-like basis.

11 March 1997 - Brent Spar Dialogue Seminar in Denmark.

9 April 1997 - Short List contractors' deadline extended by a month to beginning June.

14-18 April 1997 - Brent Spar and the Way Forward a major feature of the British Pavilion at the Hanover Fair in Germany.

30 May 1997 - Brent Spar Dialogue Seminar in Rotterdam.

2 June 1997 - Six Short List contractors submit nine detailed proposals.

17 June 1997 - Shell publishes CD-ROM of proposals with computer animation, interactive maps and video sequences.

13 October 1997 - Shell announces Way Forward final stages and DNV publishes independent findings together with contractors' bid prices.

15-28 October 1997 - More Brent Spar Dialogue seminars in London, Copenhagen, Rotterdam and Hamburg.

November 1997 - January 1998 - Shell carries out its final BPEO evaluation.

29 January 1998 - Shell announces its choice of solution for Spar - a "one-off" re-use as a Norwegian Ro/Ro ferry quay.

Decommissioning Plan submitted to UK Government - the first step in gaining approval.

26 August 1998 - UK Government announces its approval of Shell Exploration and Production's choice of solution.

25 November 1998 - Spar topsides are successfully removed.

10 July 1999 - The project is effectively completed when cut and cleaned ring sections of Spar's hull are placed on the seabed at Mekjarvik to form the base of a new quay.

1 September 1999 - Shell Expro hosts a feedback seminar in London for interested parties and stakeholders providing details of Spar's decommissioning.