Greenpeace activists have lodged a complaint against plans to drill the world’s most northerly well, stopping Statoil in its tracks.
Activists claimed Statoil’s plans to drill Apollo, the northernmost of its wells in the Norwegian sector of the Barents Sea, violates a law banning drilling in ice near an ice boundary.
According to Norway’s Polar Institute, the boundary sits 25 kilometres from Statoil’s licensed area.
The state-owned oil company will now have to wait for a full investigation to be carried out before it can commence drilling.
The Conservatives’ Climate and Environment Minister Tina Sundtoft is due to make the final decision.
Transocean’s Spitsbergen rig was on its way to the the drilling site when the project was suddenly stalled.
On April 30, Norway’s Environment Agency granted Statoil full permission to drill its Apollo, Mercury and Atlantis wells.
The trio were due to be drilled between May and September this year.
Greenpeace activists aboard the Esperanza vessel are due to anchor in the Barents Sea’s Hoop area to ensure drilling is stood down as the investigation unfolds.
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