Greenpeace Activists Stop BP Rig

Three Greenpeace activists stopped a BP exploration rig that was supposed to leave this weekend from Scotland to an offshore oil field.

In a Tweet, one of the activists who identified herself as Jo, posted a statement saying, “I'm occupying a @BP_plc oil rig that intends to drill up 30 million barrels of climate wrecking oil in the North Sea. As long as I'm here, the rig isn't going anywhere.”

A later statement released by the organization to media and quoting the same activist said “This rig and the 30 million barrels it seeks to drill, are a sure a sign that BP are committed to business as usual, fueling a climate emergency that threatens millions of lives and the future of the living world,” as quoted by Reuters.

BP said in response that “While we recognize the right for peaceful protest, the actions of this group are irresponsible and may put themselves and others unnecessarily at risk.” The supermajor added that it was working with the rig’s owner, Transocean, to fund a solution to the situation. BP further added that it supported the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and shared Greenpeace’s concern about the environment.

Yet the organization will hardly take BP’s assurances to heart. In a string of Tweets, the activist that posted the original announcement of the rig boarding said BP was spending billions on new exploration despite its claims to support climate action.

This is the second recent environmentalist attack on the UK-based oil supermajor. Last month, amid large-scale protests in London initiated by Extinction Rebellion, Greenpeace activists staged a blockade of BP’s HQ. Again, the motive was to force BP to stop oil and gas exploration. The plan was to keep the blockade for at least a week but the custom-made boxes housing activists in front of every entry of the building were removed sooner.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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