Cairn wins injunction against Greenpeace over Arctic oil drilling protest

10.6.2011 (Financial Times)

Greenpeace fights a new cold war over oil

By Christopher Thompson in the Davis Strait
 

The next morning the world’s best-known environmental group would launch its
biggest-ever seaborne non-violent direct action: the storming of the Leiv Eiriksson,
a 53,000-tonne rig currently used by Cairn Energy, the FTSE 100 oil and gas explorer, to drill for oil in the sub-Arctic region’s
frigid seas.

“The battle to stop Arctic oil is just beginning,” says Ben Stewart, a 37-year-old
activist aboard the ship and a Greenpeace communications officer.

A week later and the mood aboard Greenpeace’s two Amsterdam-registered ships
is more muted but no less defiant.

On Thursday a Dutch court granted Cairn an injunction against Greenpeace resulting in that for every day Greenpeace disrupts Cairn’s drilling operations
it will incur a penalty of €50,000 ($71,700), up to a maximum of €1m.

Greenpeace campaigners have been protesting against Cairn’s exploration programme
in the Arctic since the company drilled its first wells there last summer. This
year Cairn is spending $600m to explore prospects with an estimated 3.2bn barrels
of oil equivalent.

In little more than a week police have arrested 20 Greenpeace activists – nearly
halving the ships’ respective crews – for breaching the company’s operations.

True to the popular environmentalist stereotype, seafaring hippies – socks, sandals
and wild facial hair – do make up a proportion of the Greenpeace crew. But they
are outnumbered by a Benetton-advert range of activists and volunteers from 14
countries and across the professional spectrum: doctors, mountain guides, engineers,
a PhD student in anthropology, two cooks, a former private security guard and
a professional bass guitarist.

Although the injunction was granted for considerably less than the €2m per day
Cairn had argued for – the company estimates it stands to lose €4m for every day
it is prevented from drilling – there is doubt as to whether the direct action
part of Greenpeace’s campaign can continue.

Before activists occupied the Leiv Eiriksson – stopping drilling for 12 hours
last Saturday – two colleagues had been arrested for hanging off the underside
of the rig in a “survival pod” for four days.

In the cramped cabins aboard the Greenpeace ships it has been decided that the
strategy – for now – will focus on what it says is Cairn’s refusal to release
its full oil spill response plan, a contention that was noted by the Dutch court.

Greenpeace believes that an oil spill comparable to BP’s Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico would wreck the Arctic’s pristine environment and be impossible
to effectively clean up – a scenario worsened by the fact Cairn can only operate
during the region’s short summer window when ice temporarily yields to ocean.

Cairn says its response plan is not just comprehensive but is based on the most
rigorous international norms. It says it cannot release details because of a “stipulation
of the Greenlandic authorities, not because of any decision by Cairn”. The company
adds: “Our greatest concern in conducting our lawful operations is ensuring they
are done safely.”

The anti-drilling campaign has roused high emotions in Greenland, with some local
press denouncing it as a violation of national sovereignty.

Wood Mackenzie, the energy and metals consultancy, estimates Greenland could
have reserves of 20bn barrels of oil. Many Greenlanders hope future oil revenue
could allow its fishing and tourism-dependent economy to achieve full independence
from Denmark.

The oil companies make the point that exploration and production in the Arctic
Circle is not new, and that several million barrels of oil are already produced
each day in the area.

“Cairn and the other international companies that own licences around Greenland
are doing so at the invitation of the Greenland government and people,” the company
says.

But for an anti-climate change organisation such as Greenpeace, its members are
united by a more general opposition to frontier oil: if the Arctic – surely the
ultimate frontier – is open for business then nowhere is sacred.

“We’re in this for the long haul,” says Nick Young, 40, a shaven-headed activist
from New Zealand blogging from a cabin below the Arctic Sunrise’s mess.

“Oil companies can only go into the Arctic because global warming has melted
the ice cap – that should be a catalyst to a non-fossil fuel future and not an
invitation to extract more oil.”

 

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c133ec38-938e-11e0-922e-00144feab49a.html#axzz1OukMnuN1

 


 

 

 

 

see also

 



 

Cairn wins Arctic drilling injunction

By Christopher Thompson in the Davis Strait

9.6.2011 (Financial Times)


Greenpeace activists climb on to Cairn’s Leiv Eiriksson rig at the weekend

Cairn Energy has won an injunction against Greenpeace in a blow to the environmental group’s anti-Arctic drilling campaign.

On Thursday, a Dutch court imposed a penalty on Greenpeace of €50,000 per day
if the company’s operations are disrupted, up to a maximum of €1m (£887,000).

The FTSE 100 oil and gas explorer is drilling for oil in the waters of the Davis
Strait,
off the coast of Greenland.

Two Danish navy ships are patrolling a 500m exclusion zone around the company’s
Leiv Eiriksson rig.

Greenpeace has stationed two Amsterdam-registered ships in the area – the Arctic
Sunrise and the Esperanza – which have been used to harass Cairn’s operations
and drum up publicity.

“Right now we’re digesting the ruling and won’t make any snap decisions,” Ben
Stewart, a Greenpeace communications officer aboard the Esperanza told the Financial
Times.

The injunction comes after Cairn stopped drilling for 12 hours on Saturday when
18 protesters scaled the legs of the 53,000-tonne Leiv Eiriksson and occupied
its platform in an early morning raid.

Earlier, two Greenpeace activists had been arrested after they hung in a “survival
pod” strapped to the underside of the rig for four days. Though the injunction
is a victory for Cairn, the fine stipulated by the judge is far less than the
€2m for every day of halted drilling sought by the company when it applied for
the injunction last week.

The company estimates that any drilling delays could cost it $4m per day.

Despite the injunction, Greenpeace said its “struggle to protect the Arctic”
would continue. “It will happen on the high seas, in the courtroom, in the high
street and the ballot box. This is far from over,” said Mr Stewart.

Greenpeace is demanding to see the Cairn’s full “oil spill response plan” – which
has not been released – for use in the event of a spill such as
BP’s Macondo disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Arctic is one of the last untapped hydrocarbon basins in the world with estimated
reserves of 20bn barrels of oil, according to Wood Mackenzie, the consultancy.

Cairn is spending some $600m (£366m) this campaign to try to tap an estimated
3.2bn barrels of oil equivalent.

 

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/71a28ed4-92d7-11e0-bd88-00144feab49a.html#axzz1OukMnuN1

 

EDITOR’S CHOICE

Cairn awaits ruling on eco warriors – Jun-07

Cairn seeks Greenpeace injunction – Jun-02

Greenland attacks Greenpeace over protest – May-30

Cairn Energy plans Greenland drilling – May-24

 

 

see also

Greenpeace website

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/activists-and-pod-captured-danish-navy-isnt-over-20110602

Activists and pod captured by Danish navy, but this isn’t over

 

and

 

Greenpeace website

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/blog/climate/activists-stop-oil-drilling-second-time-one-week-20110604

Activists stop oil drilling for second time in one week