UK facing EU outrage over ‘timebomb’ of North Sea oil rigs
Germany leads complaint against plan to leave polluted remains of Shell rigs in place
The British government is facing growing outrage from the European commission and five EU member states over its plans to leave some decommissioned oil rigs in the North Sea, with one senior German official describing the UK’s proposal as a “grotesque idea” that amounts to a “ticking timebomb”.
Several hundred oil drilling platforms in the North Sea are due to be decommissioned over the next three decades as they approach the end of their operational lifetime.