The Norwegian Environment Agency now confirms that drilling at the Pingvin prospect in the Barents Sea will have to be postponed until a complaint filed by environmentalists has been handled.
Environmental organization Greenpeace in August complained to the Norwegian government agency about the drilling, which it argues is located too close to the Bear Island, and consequently poses a major risk to environment in the area.
Statoil spokesman Ørjan Heradstveit says to Bloomberg that the well top hole has been drilled, but that “Greenpeace’s complaint needs to be handled before we can drill the deeper layers.”
Environmental organizations Greenpeace and Bellona both accuse the Norwegian Environment Agency for systematically letting the oil companies start drilling before the deadlines for complaints have expired. According to Greenpeace the Agency has given green light for drilling before the deadline date in as many as 156 of 162 cases over the last four years.
“To hand in late applications and then place the rig in drilling position is a trick applied by the oil companies aimed at putting pressure on the Environment Agency”, Greenpeace representative Erlend Tellnes says in a press release. He fears that the Agency consequently fails to make necessary environmental considerations in its assessment of the applications.
The Environment Agency however rejects that it is giving in to pressure from the oil companies. In a press release, the Agency underlines that there has been “no cases where the startup of drilling operations has been in conflict with the interests of a complaint“ and consequently that it is “not putting aside democratic principles”.
For Rosneft, which is planning engagement in several Norwegian projects, the role of the environmental organizations can be seen as an eye-opener on Norwegian practices. The company owns a 20 percent stake in the Pingvin project, a part of a comprehensive cooperation deal with Statoil.
