Another disappointment for Statoil in the Arctic - Another victory for the environment

This marks the end of a failed campaign for Statoil in the Arctic and it is a victory both for the climate and the environment, said head of the Arctic campaign for Greenpeace Norway, Erlend Tellnes.

Statoil started their drilling campaign in June this year when they drilled the test well “Apollo” in the controversial Hoop-area close to Bear Island. Since then the company has expanded with test wells “Atlantis”, “Mercury”, “Ensis”, “Pingvin” and now recently “Isfjell”. None of the wells have found oil.

Statoil’s failed campaign in the Barents Sea shows that their strategy of being the most aggressive expander in the Arctic is a complete failure. Even if the test wells had found oil it is highly unlikely that it would ever have been put into production due to the high costs and the current oil price. Statoil’s Arctic venture is simply useless adventourism to the detriment of the climate and the environment, said Tellnes. 

This summer Greenpeace boarded the oil rig “Transocean Spitsbergen” right before it was due to commence drilling of the first test well in Statoil’s campaign - “Apollo” - situated in the Hoop-area close to Bear Island. Greenpeace’ actions slowed the drilling operation, which at the time was the northernmost oil well ever drilled,  with over four days of suspended operations. Now Greenpeace signals further actions.

I hope Statoil has learned that the areas close to the ice shelf and Bear Island are unsuitable for oil production. But if they should return to try again I can’t rule out that we will be there again as well - like we were this summer, says Tellnes.