Row over oil rig decommissioning

0 Expert believes defunct oil and gas platforms can stay in place to become man-made reefs Environmentalists have hit out at suggestions by a Scottish oil expert that defunct oil and gas platforms should be cleaned up but left in the sea at the end of their productive life.

Tom Baxter, a senior lecturer in chemical engineering at the University of Aberdeen, claims there is no environmental reason for removing drilling infrastructure at huge expense to taxpayers.

He believes much of the structurescanstayinplace tobecomeman-madereefs that are havens for marine wildlife, and the money saved could be spent on green energy solutions.

But Dr Lyndsey Dodds, head of marine at WWF, says the oil industry should not be allowed to “wriggle out” of internationally agreed obligations to clean up after their operations.“having made hundreds of millions of pounds in profits, the polluter should now pay,” she said.

Calum Duncan, head of Conservation Scotland for the Marine Conservation Society, agreed that structures should come out of the water unless removal is more risky. He said energy firms should foot the cost “as part of their commitment to a zero-carbon future”.