‘This Is Rigged’ Protesters Shut Down 70% of Scottish Fuel Supplies

‘This is Rigged’ activists have blocked fuel supplies in Scotland, with two dozen protesters climbing atop pipework and tankers, and preventing entrance or exit from two oil terminals, campaigning to “shut down” the Scottish oil industry. 

Protest began on Wednesday at Scotland’s Ineos refinery in Grangemouth and at NuStar Clydebank oil terminal on the coast in West Dunbartonshire.  

Grangemouth supplies an estimated 70% of Scotland’s fuel, according to media reports, and Clydebank NUstar houses a fuel silo, which activists occupied in their campaign. 

There is now a police presence at both venues, with the Grangemouth terminal “temporarily closed to traffic”, with officials citing safety concerns. 

‘This is Rigged” activists are protesting the some 130 new oil and gas licenses awarded in the North Sea and are demanding that Scotland’s SNP-Green administration oppose the licenses.

“We're not asking passively anymore — this is too important,” Morningstar quoted one activist as saying. 

“We are demanding that the Scottish government stand up for what’s right and oppose all new oil and gas projects and use the devolved powers they have to retrain our workers,” the activist said. “We don’t consent to our resources being used to fuel the fires burning around the world right now and in our own country last month.”

In January, the UK received 115 bids for 256 blocks from its latest offshore oil and gas licensing round, with officials heralding it as a path to critical energy security in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. 

The UK has seen oil production fall over the past two decades, leaving the country reliant on imports for 66% of its gas needs and over 80% of its oil needs, based on data from the Digest of UK Energy Statistics. 

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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