CASE STUDY SUNK COSTS : The Plan to Dump the Brent Spar

CASE STUDY
Faced with the need to dispose of an offshore oil storage installation, the Royal Dutch Shell Corporation develops what it believes is a straightforward and sensible plan: to dump the oil platform deep in the ocean, 150 miles off the northwest coast of Scotland. Doing so avoids a number of problems, including potential environmental threats involved with transporting it and otherwise disposing of it. The British government agrees but the unprecedented plan sparks outrage among environmental groups. The case describes the successful advocacy campaign waged by the international environmental group Greenpeace, which turned the Brent Spar plan into a cause celebre, and the efforts of Shell to counter its critics.

BRENT SPAR
Brent Spar was a North Sea oil storage and tanker loading buoy in the Brent oilfield, operated by Shell UK. Brent Spar became an issue of public concern in 1995, when the British government announced its support for Shell's application for disposal in deep Atlantic waters at North Feni Ridge (approximately 250 km from the west coast of Scotland, at a depth of around 2.5 km).

GREENPEACE
Greenpeace became aware of the plan to sink the Brent Spar at sea. campaigning against ocean dumping in the North Sea since the early 1980s, using high-seas tactics to physically hinder the dumping of radioactive waste and waste from titanium dioxide production, and lobbying for a comprehensive ban on ocean dumping.

Greenpeace objected to the plan to dispose of the Brent Spar at sea on a number of issues:
lack of understanding of the deep sea environment. dumping the Brent Spar at sea would create a precedent for dumping other contaminated structures in the sea and would undermine current international agreements. The environmental effects of further dumping would be cumulative. Dismantling of the Brent Spar was technically feasible minimizing the generation of wastes should be upheld and harmful materials always recycled, treated or contained.

Reactions in Europe
Germany- publicity over shells plans drew an immediate public reaction. Organized a grassroots protest movements including churches, politicians and local politicians to boycott Shells gasoline stations. UK- took out ads in the national newspaper demanding shell to accept its corporate responsibility to public.

MISTAKES
Greenpeace overstated its case with incorrect data calculated from measurements taken from the storage tanks. Greenpeace scientists were given the wrong information regarding the depths that the samples were taken. Instead of the depths being measured at the top of the storage tanks, they were taken from the top of vent pipes that gave access to tanks.

CONCLUSION
Greenpeace had grossly overestimated the amount of oil left on board. Shells assessment of the quantities of oil, radioactivity, and toxic metals in the Spar were broadly correct.