OSPAR held a special consultative meeting in accordance with OSPAR Decision 98/3 on the Disposal of Disused Offshore Installations today in London.

On Friday 18 October 2019 a meeting was held in London in accordance with OSPAR Decision 98/3 on the Disposal of Disused Offshore Installations. The Decision prohibits the dumping, and leaving wholly or partly in place, of disused offshore installations within the maritime area but sets out a process for considering derogations to this prohibition.

The meeting discussed the UK’s intention to issue derogation for leaving in-situ the footings of the Brent Alpha Steel Jacket and Brent Bravo, Brent Charlie and Brent Delta gravity based concrete installations structures which contain oil as well as contaminated water and sediment. The operator of the Brent field, 180km north-east of Shetland, stated that it had explored potential reuse options including carbon dioxide storage and wind farms but did not consider these options credible due to the age and distance from shore of the Eiffel Tower-sized platforms. The operator considered there to be minimal environmental and safety legacy risks and recommended that the footings of the Brent Alpha Steel Jacket and Brent Bravo, Brent Charlie and Brent Delta gravity based concrete installations be left in place. Click here to read more