NORTH SEA DECOMMISSIONING SCANDAL

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: february 2018 :: RMTnews 18 There are growing concerns over the North Sea decommissioning industry following the cash sale of three semi-submersible drilling platforms to a company that transports offshore oil and gas infrastructure to be scrapped in India and Bangladesh. The platforms predominantly worked in the UK North Sea which have a combined age of 119 years are currently cold stacked in the Cromarty Firth. However there is existing capacity in Scotland to carry out this decommissioning, recycling and scrapping work. The NGO Shipbreaking Platform has documented more and more oil platforms, drill ships and other vessels related to the oil industry arriving for demolition on the beaches of South Asia as well as in Turkey and China. It calls on the large oil and gas companies – such as BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, Petrobras, Total, and Chevron – to ensure that companies specialized in drill ships and leasing oil platforms, as well as tanker companies, commit to clean and safe recycling off the beach. There are a variety of platforms and vessels that function in the offshore oil industry, but the ones that the NGO is most concerned with are those that can move on their own. Fixed platforms and compliant towers are attached to the ocean floor with giant submerged steel or concrete towers and are not transported around the world for demolition. However, semi-submersible platforms, drill ships, and floating production systems (FPSO – Floating Production, Storage and Offloading System) move on their own and are likely to end up on the shipbreaking beaches of South Asia. RMT general secretary Mick Cash that it was another kick in the teeth for offshore workers here, not to mention a continuation of the disgraceful practice of dumping ships and oil and gas infrastructure on South Asian beaches, where workers are regularly killed and injured in highly dangerous and poorly protected conditions. "Over 160,000 jobs have NORTH SEA DECOMMISSIONING SCANDAL RMT hits out at offshore oil and gas companies selling off infrastructure to be scrapped on the beaches of South Asia DANGEROUS: Bangladeshi labourers working at the Dhaka Shipyard in hazardous conditions for minimum wage near the banks of the Buriganga River. (Credit Image: © Md. Mehedi Hasan)