Arctic Sunrise Protests Arctic Oil Drilling in Barents Sea

Four people in kayaks have reached Statoil’s rig, the Songa Enabler. They are bringing a huge globe with messages from people around the world urging the Norwegian government to end its Arctic oil expansion.

The Greenpeace ship Arctic Sunrise is in the Norwegian Arctic to document, expose and challenge the Norwegian government and Statoil’s aggressive search for new oil in the Barents Sea. Statoil has just started their drilling operations at the Korpfjell site using the rig called Songa Enabler. The Arctic Sunrise is carrying activists from all over the world, who are ambassadors for the People Versus Arctic Oil movement.

Greenpeace Nordic and its co-plaintiff, Natur og Ungdom (Nature and Youth), will face the government in Court in Oslo in November, where the new drilling will be subject to a historic climate lawsuit. They argue that granting licenses to open a new oil frontier breaches the Norwegian Constitutional right to a healthy and safe environment for current and future generations and contravenes the Paris Agreement.