The ship had an FPSO on board, a floating unit that ensured in particular the production and storage of oil or natural gas produced at sea.
Greenpeace activists boarded and “occupied” an oil giant Shell oil tanker bound for a deposit off Scotland on Tuesday January 31, the environmental group said.
Four activists approached the 51,000-ton facility from inflatable boats before docking and boarding. They held a banner that read “Stop Drilling. Start paying” (Stop drilling. Start paying), according to images shared by the NGO.
“Global Climate Destruction”
At that time, the ship was north of the Canary Islands in the Atlantic Ocean and was heading for a deposit in the North Sea off Scotland. It carries an FPSO, a floating unit that ensures in particular the extraction and storage of oil or natural gas extracted at sea.
“The peaceful protest is intended to highlight the global climate destruction committed by Shell and the entire fossil fuel industry, which has not paid a dime for the damage they have caused,” he said in a Greenpeace statement.
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The four activists “now occupy the ship’s cargo,” it said. They “have enough resources to keep the platform busy for days”. The platform could allow Shell to unveil eight new production wells, enough to produce up to “45,000 barrels of oil per day,” Greenpeace laments.
“We’re mobilizing today because when Shell extracts fossil fuels, it’s causing a wave of death, destruction and displacement around the world,” said Yeb Saño, an NGO official quoted in the release. “Shell and the broader fossil fuel industry are bringing the climate crisis into our homes, our families, our landscapes and our oceans.”
“Real Security Concerns”
For its part, the Anglo-Dutch giant condemned an action “which raises real safety concerns, with a certain number of people boarding a moving ship in difficult conditions,” according to a spokesman quoted by the Guardian.
At the end of 2019, Shell – which is due to publish its annual results on Thursday – had won a victory in the Scottish courts which had banned Greenpeace activists from going near its platforms in the North Sea.