Published in Oil Industry
News on Wednesday, 8 April 2015
Greenpeace has released a video showing the daring moment
they scaled a Shell Drilling Rig that was in transport to the Arctic.
Six activists from Greenpeace boarded the Polar Pioneer
drilling rig on the 6th of April in order to protest against Arctic drilling.
They claim to have enough supplies to stay their several days.
The Polar Pioneer, which is being transported across the
Pacific Ocean on a 217 meters long heavy-lift vessel Blue Marlin, is one of two
drilling vessels sailing towards the Arctic for Shell this year. The second is
the Noble Discoverer drillship.
In its press release, Greenpeace highlights the fact that
the Noble Discoverer is one of the oldest drill ships in the world. It also
points to December 2014, when Noble Drilling, one of Shell’s biggest Arctic
sub-contractors and owner of the Noble Discoverer, pleaded guilty to committing
eight felonies in connection with Shell’s failed attempts to drill in the
Arctic Ocean in 2012.
Johno Smith, an activist from New Zealand, said: “We’re here to highlight that in less than 100 days Shell is going to the Arctic to drill for oil. This pristine environment needs protecting for future generations and all life that will call it home. But instead Shell’s actions are exploiting the melting ice to increase a manmade disaster. Climate change is real and already inflicting pain and suffering on my brothers and sisters in the Pacific.
“I believe that shining a light on what Shell is doing will
encourage more people to take a strong stand against them and other companies
who are seeking to destroy this planet for profit. I’m just one voice out here,
but I know I’m not alone, and millions if not billions of voices demanding the
right to safe and healthy lives will have a huge chance of changing things.”
Both the drilling rigs are crossing the Pacific and are
expected to arrive in Seattle around the middle of April before heading to the
Chukchi Sea. Shell intends to use the port of Seattle as a base for the
company’s Arctic fleet.
The 35 person crew on board the Greenpeace’s Esperanza have
tailed the Polar Pioneer for more than 5000 nautical miles, since it left
Brunei Bay in Malaysia.
Greenpeace says that the climbers will not interfere with
the navigation or operation of the vessel. The climbers are are Aliyah Field,
27, from the USA, Johno Smith, 32, from New Zealand, Andreas Widlund, 27, from
Sweden, Miriam Friedrich, 23, from Austria, Zoe Buckley Lennox, 21, from
Australia and Jens Loewe, 46, from Germany.
After fracking up our soil, our Gulf and our water bodies,
now Shell is trying to destroy the arctic due to the melting ice. We need
to put them back to their shell.