Greenpeace protesters remain attached to the underside of a drilling rig contracted to Cairn Energy PLC (CNE.LN) offshore Greenland, shutting down operations on the rig for safety reasons, the environmental group said in a statement on its website Wednesday.
Greenpeace protesters remain attached to the underside of a drilling rig
contracted to Cairn Energy PLC (CNE.LN) offshore
Greenland
,
shutting down operations on the rig for safety reasons, the environmental group
said in a statement on its website Wednesday.
Four protesters have suspended tents commonly used in rock climbing from the
underside of the rig, Stena Don. This is one of two rigs Cairn has operating
offshore Greenland, with which it was hoping to drill three or four exploration
wells during the summer.
"They've taken enough food with them to last a few days. The hope is that
if they can hang on long enough, Cairn will miss the summer drilling window,
and have to wait until next year when the sheet ice melts again,"
Greenpeace said.
"Safety remains our number one priority," said Cairn in a statement. "The
actions taken by Greenpeace are primarily a matter for the Greenlandic
authorities and Cairn will work with these authorities as they seek to deal
with the matter in the most appropriate way."
Greenland
's government condemned the protest as "a very
grave and illegal attack on
Greenland
's
constitutional rights.
"It is highly disturbing that Greenpeace in its chase on media attention
with all measures breaks the safety regulations put in place to protect people
and the environment," the government said in a statement.
Greenland
's government hopes development of oil and gas
resources could spur economic development in the newly independent but
geographically isolated country. Greenpeace says drilling in the
Arctic
is
too environmentally risky, particularly in the wake of the oil spill in the
Gulf
of Mexico
.
Greenland
's police and the executive authorities will work
to ensure that legal business activities can continue undisturbed, said the
country's Premier, Kuupik Kleist.
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