Oil and Gas Installations (Hansard, 30 January 1997)

§ Mr. Matthew Taylor
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what discussions in 1996 and 1997 his Department's(a) officials and (b) consultants have had in connection with decommissioning of oil or gas installations in relation to the Oslo and Paris Commission; on what dates: and in what form. [12595]

§ Mr. Raymond S. Robertson
Scottish Office officials have had many discussions, including interdepartmental discussions about the decommissioning of oil and gas installations. No consultants have been employed by the Scottish Office to consider this issue.

§ Mr. Taylor
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if the licence for disposal of Brent Spar No. 975—SOAFD re/No. FKB/296—signed on 9 May 1995 remains in operation. [12632]

§ Mr. Robertson
The licence expired on 8 November 1995.

§ Mr. Taylor
To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what application the(a) best practicable environmental option and (b) licence granted for disposal of the Brent Spar has outside British territorial waters. [12935]

§ Mr. Robertson
In seeking approval to its abandonment programme for the Brent Spar, Shell UK Ltd. was required to undertake a best practicable environmental option assessment. This concluded that the BPEO was deep-sea disposal of the installation at a site within United Kingdom-controlled waters in the north-east Atlantic. The Food and Environment Protection Act 1985 licence applied only in respect of the designated disposal site.