Assignment 5.2: Case Analysis — The Brent Spar Incident

In 1995, Shell UK was sent reeling by a public relations disaster stemming from a conflict with the NGO Greenpeace over disposal plans for its obsolete Brent Spar oil rig located in the North Sea. The purpose of this assignment is to examine the case and to produce a list of “lessons learned” to guide other global enterprises in forming and nurturing effective partnerships with NGOs.

Procedure

1. Conduct online research into the “Brent Spar” accident of 1995. Hint: Search with keywords “Brent Spar” along with “lessons”, “history”, “Greenpeace”, “Shell”, etc.
2. Compose a substantive, thorough report containing a brief summary of the incident along with an annotated list of public relations (PR) lessons learned from the accident. Assume that the audience for your list includes PR managers and executives.