Cairn shakes off Greenpeace, starts drilling two wells

Greenpeace activists scaled the underside of the 53,000-tonne Leiv Eiriksson oil rig off the western coast of Greenland May 30 to protesting Carin Energy’s drilling program in Baffin Bay. The Danish Navy on June 1 arrested a pair of Greenpeace protesters, identified only as Hannah and Luke, after they occupied a “survival pod” dangling from the underside of the Leiv Eiriksson oil rig for four days. (PHOTO COURTESY OF GREENPEACE)

Cairn Energy has started drilling for oil off Greenland’s west coast after the arrest of two Greenpeace activists protesting the company’s Arctic presence.

The Scottish company announced June 3 that it’s drilling two wells, 160 kilometres and 300 km from Greenland’s capital city, Nuuk.

The Danish Navy on June 1 arrested a pair of Greenpeace protesters, identified only as Hannah and Luke, after they occupied a “survival pod” dangling from the underside of the Leiv Eiriksson oil rig for four days.

“Navy has sent two speedboats our way and there are climbers above us — not sure how many more updates I’ll manage!” Hannah said in a Twitter message shortly before her arrest.

In a blog post, Greenpeace spokesman Ben Ayliffe said the two protesters remain in custody in Nuuk, “but are safe and well.”

“Hannah and Luke are in jail now but that won’t stop us opposing the madness of drilling for oil in a region where a spill would be almost impossible to clean up,” Ayliffe wrote.

“This isn’t over. We’ll keep on pushing till the oil companies get out of the Arctic.”

Greenpeace claims Arctic oil drilling can’t be done safely and poses a risk to Greenland’s fishing industry.

But the government of Greenland issued exploration licenses to Cairn and other oil companies and hopes to use revenues from any oil finds to wean itself from $500 million in block grants it gets from Denmark every year.

In a statement, Cairn said the Eiriksson rig and another ship, the Ocean Rig Corcovado, also drilling off Greenland, are designed to operate in harsh conditions.

The company said it’s drilling at the invitation of the Greenland government and promised to “operate in a safe and prudent manner.”

Cairn is seeking a court injunction that would fine Greenpeace two million euros for every day the group interferes with drilling. That case is to be heard in Amsterdam June 6.

“Cairn respects the rights of individuals and organizations to express their views in a safe and peaceful manner but cannot allow any action that poses a potential threat to the safety of our employees or the protesters involved,” the statement said.