Could the Brent Spar oil platform become the world’s first deep-sea casino?
The Royal Dutch/Shell Group, which owns the abandoned structure, says the idea is but one of 216 unsolicited offers it has received for getting rid of the rig.
And why not? The Brent Spar, now moored in a Norwegian fjord, is well-known, it’s built to sleep 38 workers, and its roof — taller than Big Ben — could provide breathtaking views.
As Shell continues to struggle to find ways of disposing of the Brent Spar, nothing has been ruled out. The company’s original plan — dumping the structure in the deep waters of the North Sea — was abandoned in June following protests by the environmental group Greenpeace and consumer boycotts in Europe.
Since then, suggestions have poured in from 25 countries. A group called the Bulgarian National Front sent in a couple of undisclosed ideas, written in Cyrillic script.
A Scandinavian company proposed turning the platform into a wave machine to generate electricity. American companies proposed sinking the structure and turning it into an offshore reef.
Shell even received at least one letter from a mysterious, unnamed person with a Swiss bank account number.
“Give us 50 million, and we’ll take care of it for you,” said the letter, which didn’t specify a currency.
For now, Shell says it will pass on those offers, though “that doesn’t mean to say they are totally daft,” says Eric Faulds, manager of the company’s Brent Spar decommissioning project.
Shell has spent more than $15.7 million so far in its efforts to get rid of the Brent Spar. The company has acknowledged that the protests over its dumping plans badly damaged its business and its image, and it has pledged a new era of “openness” as it works to find an answer.
Officially, the real work on finding answers for the Brent Spar problem is underway, with the recent publication by Shell of an invitation for proposals in a European Commission journal. The company will winnow down the list to six ideas before settling on the final plan to submit to the British government.
Shell said it doesn’t expect a decision until the end of next year, at best. For those who can’t wait that long, however, the new, open Shell says a CD-ROM version of three years of studies on the Brent Spar will be available soon.
