{"id":22466,"date":"2019-06-14T15:29:12","date_gmt":"2019-06-14T15:29:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/?p=22466"},"modified":"2019-11-06T09:47:17","modified_gmt":"2019-11-06T08:47:17","slug":"greenpeace-climbers-block-bp-oil-rig-for-six-consecutive-days","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/press-release\/22466\/greenpeace-climbers-block-bp-oil-rig-for-six-consecutive-days\/","title":{"rendered":"Greenpeace climbers block BP oil rig for six consecutive days"},"content":{"rendered":"

London, UK – Greenpeace UK climbers have managed to stop a 27,000-tonne oil rig contracted to BP from heading out to drill a new well in the North Sea for the sixth consecutive day.<\/span><\/p>\n

At about 4am today, two Greenpeace activists reboarded the rig just hours after Police Scotland had arrested the previous climbing team and declared the occupation over.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday, police boats and climbers managed to remove two Greenpeace activists who had spent over 70 hours blocking the rig from leaving Cromarty Firth, north of Inverness. But two new climbers, Andrew and Meena, have now boarded the structure and climbed up to a gantry on one of the legs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Rig workers notified the activists of an interdict – the Scottish law equivalent of an injunction – preventing them from accessing the rig, but Greenpeace UK is continuing the occupation in defiance of the injunction.<\/span><\/p>\n

The occupation started on Sunday evening and has now seen three separate climbing teams working in shifts to prevent the rig from reaching the Vorlich field, where it plans to drill a well giving BP access to 30 million barrels of oil.<\/span><\/p>\n

Greenpeace UK\u2019s executive director John Sauven said:<\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cOur climbers are back on the oil rig and determined to stay for as long as possible. BP are heading out to drill a new well giving them access to 30 million barrels of oil – something we can\u2019t afford in the middle of a climate emergency. We can\u2019t give up and let oil giants carry on with business as usual because that means giving up on a habitable planet and our kids\u2019 future. The UK government has announced a target of net zero greenhouse emissions by 2050 – we have started to enforce it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n