Greenpeace ‘The British government has endorsed plans by oil giant Shell to leave some decommissioned North Sea oil infrastructure in place, despite the German government expressing serious concerns about shortcomings in the oil giant’s proposals, according to leaked documents seen by Unearthed.

Hundreds of ageing North Sea oil and gas rigs will be decommissioned in the coming years and removing structures from the sea completely will be expensive. The UK public spending watchdog, the National Audit Office, has said that British taxpayers will face a bill of at least £24bn for tax relief awarded to oil companies decommissioning North Sea oil infrastructure.

Following an assessment and consultation, Shell has proposed leaving portions of its Brent oilfield installations in the North Sea. A document, seen by Unearthed, from January 3 this year, shows that the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED), which is part of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), has given its full support to Shell’s proposal. The plans include leaving the residual contents of concrete storage cells, including oil and chemicals, at three of the four installations – Brent Bravo, Charlie and Delta. But the move by the UK government to agree to the proposals may undermine an international convention (OSPAR) designed to protect the marine environment.’ Click here to read more