Shell is demanding damages of 113,000 euros from Greenpeace because four activists from the environmental organization have occupied a drilling platform. The damage is said to have been caused by the activists placing solar panels and a wind turbine on the drilling platform. Shell also wants the activists to leave the platform.
Environmental activists from Argentina, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States are demanding that Shell stop drilling for oil and gas. They also want Shell to pay for the environmental damage caused by the burning of fossil fuels. Greenpeace refers to the record profit of 40 billion dollars (37.3 billion euros) that Shell booked last year. Based on that amount, it would take Shell “less than two seconds” to compensate for the environmental damage.
The floating oil production and storage platform, also called an FPSO, is on its way to the port of the Norwegian city of Haugesund. The platform is being towed by the White Marlin, a vessel owned by the Dutch company Boskalis.
According to Shell, there is a “dangerous and illegal occupation of a vessel transporting a crucial good on a busy shipping route”. A spokesman for the company calls the claim proportionate and says the action is necessary to “keep people safe and protect property”.
Earlier, a British judge ruled that the activists must leave the platform. According to international maritime shipping regulations, ships are often not allowed to come closer than 500 meters to installations such as oil drilling platforms. This can be unsafe.
At the end of January, the activists managed to climb onto the drilling platform with ropes in the Atlantic Ocean. But according to international rules, the Greenpeace ships Arctic Sunrise and Sea Beaver should have kept a safe distance from the White Marlin.
