Tag: Greenland

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 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 ...

Sharing the exploration of the natural resources Malaysia has proposed the setting up of a special purpose vehicle for the sharing of economic activities among the claimant countries in the South China Sea.Defence Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi said Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak had suggested that the countries concerned create multilateral discussions rather than bilateral talks."If we may translate the suggestion, we would like to explore the natural resources, in particular hydro carbon, to be shared among the claimant countries."A special purpose vehicle can be created to share not only in terms of equity participation but also in terms of sharing the exploration of the natural resources," he said at the question-and-answer session on the final day of the 10th IISS Asia Security Summit - The Shangri-La Dialogue, here, Sunday.Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam all have a stake on the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Of these countries, only Brunei lacks a military presence in the area.Dr Ahmad Zahid said: "Our key performance index is not based on how many wars we are going to win but how many wars or crises we are going to avoid."So our role is ...

Ice of Greenland melting faster than expected