Brent Spar, Oil storage buoy in North Sea, Great Britain.
The Brent Spar was an oil storage facility anchored in the North Sea that held crude oil temporarily before transport to shore for processing. This floating platform relied on a tall steel structure with large holding tanks designed to handle the output from nearby extraction operations.
The facility was built in 1976 to support oil extraction and operated for nearly two decades before being shut down in 1991. The question of what to do with it then sparked a major international dispute about environmental responsibility.
The 1995 protests against Shell's disposal plans led to substantial changes in regulations regarding the decommissioning of offshore structures in Europe.
The platform was permanently off-limits and could only be viewed from passing ships at a distance. Its removal was eventually completed at Norwegian facilities, demonstrating how recycling operations were organized for decommissioned offshore equipment.
When removed in 1998, the platform was not dumped at sea but instead recycled, with its steel components reused for harbor construction projects in Norway. This approach was ahead of its time in showing how offshore decommissioning could be done responsibly.
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