Aims to disrupt an imminent drilling campaign
Activists of the environmental group Greenpeace have boarded an oil rig off the coast of Greenland in a bid to disrupt an imminent drilling campaign by Cairn Energy PLC in the Arctic waters.
The Edinburgh-based oil company confirmed that protesters had boarded the semisubmersible drilling vessel Leiv Eiriksson, owned by Ocean Rig, around 100 miles off the coast of Greenland.
A spokesman for Cairn said the vessel’s operations had been completely unaffected.
Cairn is the only company planning to drill in the region after disappointing results from a campaign last year. But Greenpeace has said if it strikes oil this summer it will spark an oil rush that would devastate the fragile Arctic environment.
Greenland’s government said that Greenpeace’s actions were “illegal” and the protesters could be removed by the police if they continued to occupy the rig. “It is a clear illegal action [by] Greenpeace that violates and abuses the free right to sail according to international regulations on the ocean,” it said in a statement.
Activist Ben Ayliffe said the protesters set up camp in a survival pod with enough supplies for 10 days and were meters from the huge drill-bit that Cairn hopes will strike oil in the coming weeks. Greenpeace hopes that by disrupting Cairn’s tight drilling schedule as it did last year, the onset of colder conditions will stop the campaign later in the year.
“We are preventing it from drilling because an oil spill up here would be nearly impossible to deal with due to the freezing conditions and remote location,” he said Sunday.
Protests by Greenpeace disrupted Cairn’s last Greenland drilling campaign in 2010. Although the company found traces of oil and gas it said were encouraging, it was able to drill only two out of its four targeted wells and failed to make any commercial discoveries.
Cairn estimates its target reservoir could contain up to 3.2 billion barrels of oil equivalent. The area is largely unexplored and it puts its chances of a commercial hydrocarbon discovery at 10% to 20%.
“Cairn respects the right of individuals and organizations to express their views in a safe and peaceful manner but would be concerned with any action that presents a risk to the safety of people and/or equipment,” the company said in a statement.
Source: The Wall Street Journal
