Brent Spar

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Brent Spar or Brent E, was a North Sea oil storage and tanker loading buoy in the Brent oilfield, operated by Shell UK.

With the completion of a pipeline connection to the oil terminal at Sullom Voe in Shetland, the storage facility had continued in use but was considered to be of no further value as of 1991.

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 organized a worldwide, high-profile media campaign against this plan.

Greenpeace activists occupied the Brent Spar for more than three weeks.

In the face of public and political opposition in northern Europe (including a widespread boycott of Shell service stations, some physical attacks and an arson attack on a service station in Germany), Shell abandoned its plans to dispose of Brent Spar at sea - whilst continuing to stand by its claim that this was the safest option, both from an environmental and an industrial health and safety perspective.