Rig drama continues as environmental group Greenpeace claims to have halted platform's progress
ENVIRONMENTAL group Greenpeace says it has halted the progress towards a drilling site of a 27,000-tonne BP oil rig it's activists had earlier occupied in the Cromarty Firth.
Activists had been involved in a high-profile six-day stand-off with the rig scheduled to head to a drilling site in the North Sea, saying it was acting to avert a climate emergency.
Greenpeace said that on Sunday afternoon, its ship Arctic Sunrise got ahead of the rig after it left the Cromarty Fith. It said the platform then "made a a U-turn" around 20 miles short of its proposed drilling site in the Vorlich field which is said by BP to have an estimated 30 million barrels of recoverable oil.
Greenpeace said the turnaround followed "a morning of cat and mouse".
It also said its activists had attempted to re-board the BP rig for fourth time, but the vessel towing the rig sped away from them. The Cromarty Firth stand-off started last Sunday and saw activists board the rig owned by Transocean on several occasions, followed by a string of arrests and court appearances.
It entered a new phase when the rig finally left its Cromarty Firth mooring. It was pursued as it made its way towards the oil Vorlich field.
Greenpeace says that after overtaking the rig around 1pm yesterday, it started moving back on its original track.
It has also cited warning from Pope Francis to energy bosses in Rome on Friday who that when "faced with a climate emergency, we must take action accordingly, in order to avoid perpetrating a brutal act of injustice towards the poor and future generations".
Greenpeace UK executive director John Sauven said: "BP’s oil rig has done a U-turn and we urge chief executive Bob Dudley to do the same. BP must stop drilling for new oil and switch to renewables. Pope Francis is absolutely right about the climate emergency. We must take action to save future generations from a ‘brutal injustice’. And we are.
“BP told the Pope on Friday that they want to find the answer to the climate problem. Wherever that answer may lie it’s certainly not in drilling new wells to access 30 million barrels of oil at the bottom of the North Sea. This is why BP will face opposition wherever they plan to drill for more oil, from the North Sea to the Arctic and from the mouth of the Amazon to the Gulf of Mexico. We have tried letters, meetings, petitions - none of that worked. Now we’re going to stand in BP’s way to prevent further harm to people at the sharp end of the climate crisis.
“In the long run, this is a confrontation BP can’t win. They are in it for their profits, we’re in it for our planet’s future. BP must start ditching the climate-wrecking side of its business and switch to renewables.”
BP has accused Greenpeace of reckless action and of ignoring court orders it sought to prevent further action against its moves.
This story will be updated.
