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Gemini
Exit|4 of 4 in Exxon & Shell
walk-backenergy·1989 / unsealed 1996

Shell raising North Sea drilling platforms by one meter

The Public Register1996
Shell Norway PR — public relations, Press briefing on offshore engineering
“Our offshore installations are engineered with conservative safety margins against natural North Sea wave height fluctuations.”
The Private Artifact1989
Shell / Statoil Troll Engineering Team — offshore engineering consortium, Troll Gas Field Specification Documents
“An extra one meter of platform air gap above high-tide level is incorporated specifically to mitigate projected 100-year sea level rise resulting from global greenhouse warming.”
Exhibit: Troll_Engineering_Spec_1989

The Split:Publicly, platform elevations were described as routine wave-height margins. Privately, Shell spent millions raising the physical concrete deck of the gigantic Troll platform by a meter explicitly to survive the sea level rise it claimed in court was unproven.

The Tell (How to spot this next time):

Watch what companies pour concrete for, not what they file in lobbying whitepapers.

journalism-archive pipeNorwegian engineering archives uncovered by De Correspondent.