Greenpeace activists explore oil, gas in Norwegian Arctic

Greenpeace activists on Monday climbed aboard a Seadrill drilling rig commissioned by Equinor to explore for oil and gas in the Norwegian Arctic, the group told Reuters.

Four activists climbed aboard the West Hercules rig, the organisation said. The vessel is anchored off Hammerfest, continental Europe’s northernmost town and the site of an Equinor liquefied natural gas plant, Snoehvit.

“We clearly are in the middle of a climate crisis that cannot take any new oil, so we must show our resistance in anyway we can,” said Frode Pleym, the head of Greenpeace Norway.

The activists are from Norway, Sweden and Denmark, the group added. The rig is due to drill a well in the Equinor-operated production license 859 in the eastern part of the Barents Sea, some 435 kilometres (270 miles) northeast of the coast of continental Norway.

Equinor did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company’s partners in the license are DNO, Petoro, Lundin Petroleum and Conoco Phillips.

Norway is western Europe’s largest oil producer and Europe’s second-largest gas supplier after Russia.