Greenpeace activists have blocked a drilling platform Saturn chartered by Gazprom, press center of the environmental organization says. 30 activists from the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany are involved in the campaign in the port of Ijmuiden (Netherlands) in order to prevent the platform from going to the Dolginskoye field in the Pechora Sea.
According to the environmentalists, divers have chained the substructure of the platform, preventing it from moving. Other activists have climbed the platform and spread a banner saying ‘Save the Arctic’.
“GSP Saturn has never been deployed for drilling in the northern seas and her characteristics do not ensure safe operation in extreme Arctic conditions,” explains Vladimir Chuprov, head of Greenpeace's energy unit in Russia.
The platform was to be tugged to the port of Rotterdam today for loading onto a vessel for further transportation to the drilling site.
In May, Dutch police detained at least 31 Greenpeace activists participating in a protest campaign in the port of Rotterdam hindering Gazprom’s tanker mooring.
In March, Greenpeace activists blocked West Alpha platform chartered by ExxonMobil for drilling at Russia’s Arctic shelf.
In September 2013, 30 crewmembers of the Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise (registered in Amsterdam) were accused of attacking oil platform Prirazlomnaya. The Greenpeace activists said it was a protest against oil extraction in the Arctic.
Related links:
Protest by Greenpeace involving tanker Mikhail Ulyanov at the Port of Rotterdam>>>>
Greenpeace blocks ExxonMobil rig at Norwegian port of Olen (photo) >>>>