Activists from the climate group Greenpeace have left the Shell (LON: SHEL) Penguins FPSO after almost a fortnight onboard.
Six protestors disembarked the oil giant’s vessel in Haugesund, Norway, where it is stopping over before heading to the North Sea
It follows a 13-day “occupation” of Penguins – Shell’s first new manned vessel for the UK in 30 years – during which the group travelled nearly 4,000 kilometres.
According to Greenpeace, none of the six demonstrators were arrested by Norwegian police.
A “final stand” ensued at around 10.30am local time on Sunday, with protestors climbing the FPSO’s 125m flare boom, and waving a banner saying ‘Stop drilling. Start Paying.’
Among them was Imogen Michel, a Greenpeace activist from Ayrshire, Scotland, who spent over 290 hours aboard the vessel.
Meanwhile, five other protestors sailed out to confront Boskalis’ 51-000 tonne White Marlin vessel, which transported Penguins from China to Norway.
Once the FPSO had been brought into dock, the activists, most of whom boarded just off the north-west coast of Africa, were able to descend the boom and disembark.
It is Greenpeace’s longest ever occupation of a moving oil platform.
‘This is just the beginning’
Speaking from the Tanker Tracker sailboat, Greenpeace Southeast Asia executive director Yeb Sano said: “Shell might think this is the end of our protest, but my message to chief executive Wael Sawan is that this is just the beginning.
“Negotiations around climate loss and damage have so far stalled when it comes to the fundamental question of: who will pay?
© Supplied by Greenpeace“Thanks to my brave fellow activists we are seeing people connecting the dots between fossil fuel mega profits and the bill for climate loss and damage.
“Not only can the likes of Shell afford to pay; it is right that they must pay for devastation that they are directly causing. Shell, and the wider fossil fuel industry, must stop drilling, and start paying. One way or another we will make polluters pay.”
Timeline
On January 31, four activists activists boarded the Penguins FPSO just north of the Canary Islands.
Shell (LON: SHEL) subsequently filed an injunction against two Greenpeace vessels in a bid to stop things escalating.
But the group was able to get another two protestors aboard a few days later using different boats.
Shell previously condemned the action, flagging the potential risk to life.
© Supplied by GreenpeacePenguins’ arrival at Haugesand was impacted by “deteriorating weather conditions” in the North Sea, which forced the vessel to take shelter.
On Friday, Greenpeace claims it was hit with a legal claim for $120,000, over alleged damage caused by activists onboard the FPSO.
Next stop, North Sea
Penguins will now spend some time in Aibel’s Haugesund yard to prepare it for life in the North Sea.
Sitting some 150 miles north-east of Shetland, the project is a redevelopment of a former tie-back field to the Brent Charlie hub.
Shell in on record as saying it expects the project to unlock 80 million barrels of oil that would have otherwise been left stranded.
Penguins is expected to deliver peak production of 45,000 barrels per day.
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