Greenpeace: Shell Threatened Protestors For Occupying FPSO With Jail Time

 Shell has threatened legal actions against activists of Greenpeace who boarded a heavy load carrier last week. The vessel was loaded with Shell’s Penguins FPSO for deployment in the UK’s North Sea.

Last Tuesday, four activists reportedly climbed on the Boskalis’; White Marlin vessel loaded with the cylindrical FPSO in the Atlantic Ocean to the north of the Canary Islands, asking Shell to end drilling and start paying. 

Per Greenpeace, Shell, late on the 3 Feb, Friday, hit the group with an injunction and threatened fines and up to two years of jail time.

Greenpeace mentioned that the injunction had stipulated that four activists on the FPSO must seek to agree upon a master plan with the captain of White Marlin to disembark safely. 

Also, the UK-flagged Greenpeace Sea Beaver vessel and the Dutch Arctic Sunrise and their boats must remain out of a 500-meter exclusion zone surrounding the White Marlin vessel.

Greenpeace mentioned that the trimaran Merida (Greenpeace France chartered) and two other boats were not included in an injunction application.

The group mentioned that on 3 February, Shell reportedly delivered a court’s order that permitted “ex parte,” meaning that Greenpeace wasn’t offered an advanced notice, or an opportunity to provide its defence. This reportedly undermines the fairness of the legal procedure.

In a statement on 6 February, Greenpeace mentioned that Shell’s legal tactics had crashed, as Greenpeace International went on with its plans of escalating the protest by adding two additional climbers to occupy the firm’s oil and gas platform – making use of other boats unimpacted by the court’s order.

The platform that six activists have been occupying is a critical piece of oil and gas production equipment that could make Shell unlock eight new wells in the Penguins field in the North Sea. 

Per Greenpeace, burning the oil and gas from field redevelopment would result in 45m tons of CO2 – over the total yearly emissions of Norway. From 1965 to 2018, Shell is responsible for 10 times the carbon pollution of the Philippines.

Offshore Engineer reported that the Penguins FPSO was built in China, and its next stop would be Norway, where it would be undergoing commissioning work before the final deployment in the UK.

References: OE Digital, Greenpeace