Shell, Greenpeace, and Brent Spar

The Royal Dutch/Shell Group of companies owns a petroleum platform, the Brent Spar, in the North Sea. The Brent Spar is an oil storage facility and tanker loading buoy. It came to the end of its useful life and was taken out of commission in September 1991. After a thorough study of the environmental impact of various disposal options, Shell concluded that deep water disposal was the safest strategy. The German arm of Greenpeace mounted an aggressive public campaign against this action, affecting public opinion to the point where Shell changed its disposal plans and opted for on-land dismantling.