Risk Management and the Decommissioning of Offshore Structures - A Retrospective Analysis of the Brent Spar Decision. Professor David J. Ball,* School of Health, Biological and Environmental Sciences, Middlesex University, 10 Highgate Hill, London N19 5ND, telephone/fax +44 1603 665422, D.Ball@mdx.ac.uk or david.ball@paston.co.uk
The attempt to dispose of the Brent Spar in the deep Atlantic in the summer of 1995 sparked an international controversy of European dimensions. Although, bearing in mind the numerous other activities which contaminate European coastal waters, it might be considered that Shell were unreasonably singled out for attention in this respect, the level of public concern led Shell Expro to embark upon a major reassessment of its decision process. This involved an extensive public consultation exercise in several countries, a thorough re-analysis of existing and new disposal options, and the instigation of a complex decision process to identify the Best Practicable Environmental Option for disposal.
Given the amount of resources allocated by Shell to identifying the new disposal option,** perhaps more than in any preceding example by any agency, and the level of interest shown by the public, environmentalists and governments alike, it is important that this decision be subjected to careful scrutiny. This paper will describe the outcome of such an assessment with particular emphasis upon the decision process itself. From this, the Brent Spar will be used as a case history to address the question - ‘How good have we become at making risk decisions?'
*The author was a member of the UK Government's Scientific Group on Decommissioning of Offshore Structures (1998). The views expressed in this paper would, however, be those of the author.
**The preferred option is to use the Brent Spar as a quay extension of Mekjarvik in Norway.
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