brent Spar, the infamous offshore oil storage platform, may yet be given a burial at sea. Plans are being finalised for its deep-sea disposal by Shell, which owns the platform. Last year, Shell had abandoned plans for sinking the platform following protests and boycotts of its products across Europe over fears of environmental damage. The company said it was difficult to carry out the alternate scheme of dragging the platform to port and getting rid of it on land. Shell is expecting proposals for on-shore disposal from 21 companies by the end of this month.

The environmental group Greenpeace, which led the protests last year against the sinking of Brent Spar, reiterated its opposition to the option saying that "on-shore disposal is clearly envi ronmentally more acceptable'. It insisted that 97 per cent of the platform's 7,000-tonne storage can be recycled. Shell has launched a campaign to gauge the public opinion this time to avoid a repeat of last year's controversy.