Greenpeace Activities in the Arctic

31st Aug '10 by StrollingMolby

15 comments 11400 reads

I've started a new thread separate from earlier Cairn Energy Plc (LON:CNE) ones given this morning's developments.

As could have been predicted from the outset, Greenpeace's peaceful protest offshore Greenland has escalated with the organisation claiming to have four activists hanging in tents under the Stena Don rig contracted to Cairn:

A few moments ago, our activists evaded a massive security operation and scaled Cairn Energy's controversial rig off Greenland. We've stopped their drilling.

After dodging Danish Navy commandos in our inflatable speedboats, our activists climbed up the inside of the rig and are now hanging from tents suspended from ropes.

http://www.gobeyondoil.org/

http://twitpic.com/2jwrmn

Given their breach of the 500-yard exclusion zone around the Stena Don I await news of the reaction (if any) from the Danish Navy.

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StrollingMolby

2nd Sep '10

And over within 48 hours, with the arrest of all four eco-terrorists.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/sep/02/greenpeace-abandons-oil-rig

Cairn Energy said drilling had resumed as soon as the four were arrested. Industry experts had denied the campaigners' claims that a delay of four or five days would have seriously damaged the drilling operation; the company had built delays and unscheduled stoppages into its schedule.

The four are now expected to be prosecuted by Greenlandic police, but Greenpeace said said it would now widen its campaign against deep sea drilling by taking the British government to court.

Hopefully Cairn Energy Plc (LON:CNE) can now complete their drilling at this location before the summer weather window closes.

21st Sep '10

FFS - those d1cks are at it again!! This time climbing on the anchor chains of the Stena Carron drillship, contracted to Chevron.

A few moments ago, our activists started taking action against a massive oil platform, stopping it from drilling a deep water well off the Shetland Islands.

Using speedboats to reach the huge 228m long drill ship, they climbed up the giant rungs of the anchor chain, and are now preventing the ship from moving to its drill site.

It all started two days ago, when a handful of activists slipped off the Esperanza - which we knew would be monitored - and boarded a ferry in Aberdeen bound for Lerwick in the Shetland Islands.

Then this morning, at a sign that the drill ship was about to move, they started the action.

The ship is operated by oil giant Chevron, and was due to sail for a site 200km north of the Shetland Islands and drill a well in 500 metres of water.

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/breaking-our-campaigners-scale-giant-oil-rig-shetland-islands-20100921

Further digging shows this is the Lagavulin well, that Faroe Petroleum Plc (LON:FPM) have 10% of.

The Lagavulin exploration well (Faroe 10%) on UK licence P1196 is a significant
sub-basalt opportunity situated in the deeper waters of the Corona Ridge, with
very substantial upside. The well is scheduled to be drilled by operator
Chevron using the Stena Carron drilling rig in late September 2010.

The co-venturers are Chevron North Sea Limited ("Chevron") (60% and Operator), OMV (UK) Limited ("OMV") (20%), Idemitsu E&P UK Limited ("Idemitsu") (10%) and Faroe Petroleum (10%).

djpreston

Turn the high pressure hoses on them!!

Scuttle their ship! Where are the French when you need them? (not a phrase I thought I'd hear myself utter...)

thegreatgeraldo

CNE seem to be making decent progress - wonder if that's got anything to do with the rumour that the crew are on a high protein/fat diet of freshly clubbed seal? ;-#))

26th Sep '10

Greenpeace protest still on it seems following the removal of the pod from the Stena Carron's anchor chains, and it will continue to hinder progress towards the Lagavulin field:

Just hours after we removed our survival pod from the ship's anchor chain, it left for a site in the Lagavulin oil field where it will drill an exploratory well in 500 metres of water.

So this afternoon we sent out an actions team in inflatable speedboats to track Stena Carron, now in open seas 100 miles north of Shetland. At 1.30pm they managed to put four swimmers in the drill ship's path, forcing it to stop.

As a result the 228-metre long Stena Carron has been halted on its journey to the drilling site. We're now planning to send waves of swimmers and campaigners in kayaks out in front of the drill ship throughout today and tomorrow to pressure the ship into turning back.

And we're also doing everything we can to stop the ship through legal channels, having sent a "letter before action” to the government, the precursor to seeking a judicial review of the decision to push ahead with new deep water drilling before the lessons from the BP disaster have been learned.

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/our-swimmers-halt-stena-carron-20100926

Canoe believe it !

27th Sep '10

Tw*ts

We're now planning to send waves of swimmers and campaigners in kayaks out in front of the drill ship throughout today and tomorrow to pressure the ship into turning back.

Are they mad? Kayaks that far north of Shetland at this time of year? & swimmers!!! Seriously hope they don't lose a few

22nd Apr '11

Time to dust off this thread concerning Cairn Energy (LON:CNE), Greenpeace and the Arctic as the treehuggers are now targetting and occupying the next rig which is en route to Arctic waters.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/22/activists-occupy-arctic-oil-rig

The fight to stop the global oil industry exploring the pristine deep waters of the Arctic has been dubbed the new cold war, and early on Friday it escalated as environmental activists from 12 countries occupied the world's second largest rig on its way from Turkey to Greenland to drill among the icebergs.

The protesters found the 52,000-tonne semi-submersible platform Leiv Eiriksson at around midnight, steaming due west at a stately six knots in the sea of Marmara, heading for the Dardanelle straits and the open Mediterranean. It took four more hours for Greenpeace to bring in its inflatables and a further 50 minutes in the choppy moonlit sea to intercept it.

Fortunately, the captain's response was a lot sterner than seen last year:

"This is Greenpeace, this is Greenpeace. I'm informing you that we have put climbers on your rig. I ask you stop your vessel", asked Korol Diker, a Turkish campaigner, on a VHF channel.

But the elephant barely registered. "I do not recognise you", came the captain's cutting reply and the Leiv Eiriksson steamed on.

Expect there to be many confrontations as the massive Leiv Eiriksson makes its way through the Mediterranean and on towards Greenland via Britain.

In the meantime, keep your eye on this spoof Cairn CEO Twitter page for some light relief! http://twitter.com/#!/CairnGlobalPR

@CairnGlobalPR Bill Gamble Gammell

FFS. I thought you were hippies?! How early did you have to get up on the bank holiday? Damn you. http://ow.ly/4EXoG

10th Jun '11

Since I last posted on Greenpeace's skirmishes with Cairn Energy (LON:CNE) as the Leiv Eiriksson rig made its way to Arctic waters, events have moved swiftly on, so let's bring the story up to date.

Cairn commenced drilling operations on 3 June at two locations to the west of Greenland with a drillship, Ocean Rig Corcovado, and the semi-submersible, Leiv Eiriksson (the world's second largest rig).

Greenpeace have been lobbying Cairn for many months to release their Arctic oil spill response plan, which Cairn has resisted. So emboldened by last year's rig occupation which lost valuable drilling days in the short Arctic summer drilling window, Greenpeace again launched their rigid inflatables and put 18 activists on the rig.

Drilling was stopped for 8 hours before the 'Arctic 18' were arrested by the Danish Navy and helicoptered to Greenland, where they were charged with trespassing and breaching the security zone, fined 30,000 dkk and now face deportation.

Whilst the offshore Benny Hill scenes were going on, Cairn filed a lawsuit in The Netherlands seeking fines of €2m per day if Greenpeace protesters again disrupted their drilling. Cairn filed the lawsuit in the Dutch courts because two of Greenpeace's ships, the MS Esperanza and the MS Arctic Sunrise, and the Greenpeace non-profit foundation itself, are all registered in the Netherlands.

Yesterday, Cairn won an injunction against Greenpeace with the court imposing a €50k per day penalty, up to a maximum €1m if drilling was disrupted again. This is less than Cairn originally sought, but Greenpeace have been halted in their illegal actions for now, and are considering their next steps.

I suspect we've not heard the last of this...

emptyend

18th Jul '11

Never mind the Arctic - they are also active in Edinburgh!

Greenpeace activists dressed as polar bears this morning invaded the Edinburgh headquarters of Cairn Energy in a new effort to disrupt the company’s controversial drilling effort in Arctic waters off Greenland.

About 50 activists entered the Cairn building at about 8:15am GMT and occupied offices in a bid to track down its oil spill response plan, which has not yet been disclosed by the company.

11th Jul '13

Latest publicity stunt from Greenpeace bringing attention to Arctic drilling:

http://news.sky.com/story/1114305/shard-protest-activists-climb-london-landmark

http://iceclimb.savethearctic.org/

Fangorn

I presume the 6 all walked to the Shard - wouldn't want to see them using modes of transport that consume fossil fuels now would we.

As an aside, why is security so lax. And why are they not being forcibly removed? The hypocrisy of Greenpeace is astounding,and should not be tolerated as it often endangers many innocent bystanders going about their daily lives.

20th Sep '13

Russia takes a more robust approach to Greenpeace activists in the Arctic...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-24170129

Greenpeace says 30 activists, including six Britons, are being held at gunpoint by Russian security officers who stormed the group's ship in the Arctic.

One of the activists told the BBC that about 15 men in balaclavas seized the Arctic Sunrise ship in the Barents Sea.

This comes a day after four Greenpeace members tried to board a Russian oil platform to prevent it from drilling.

Speaking to the BBC on Thursday, one activist on the ship said Greenpeace members were being held in the galley of the Arctic Sunrise, while the captain was being detained on the bridge.

The activist said he believed the armed men were members of Russia's internal security service, the FSB.

Greenpeace Activities in the Arctic

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StrollingMolby

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