The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Police offered oil rig to train for protests
Police have been offered use of an idle oil rig in order to train in light of the recent wave of protests in the North Sea.
Activists have staged a series of demonstrations offshore over the last two years, notably against oil giants BP and Shell.
One 12-day stand-off raised serious safety concerns as activists boarded a rig destined for a BP oilfield, costing the taxpayer £140,000 for the police response.
The International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) has now offered the rig to Police Scotland to help train for potential future events.
The North Sea’s Emergency Preparedness Offshore Liaison (EPOL) group, a committee chaired by Police Scotland, with participants from Oil and Gas UK, HSE, energy firms and other groups, revealed the details.
IADC regional head Stuart Clow said a member company had offered a rig to work with the force “for exercises and drills relating to protestors”.
The company and rig hasn’t been revealed but it was offered while the vessel was waiting to go out on contract with an operator.
Mr Clow said that, due to Covid, the training hasn’t been carried out. However, the plans are still on the table. Once restrictions ease up, the IADC will work with its members to see if another rig is available, he said.
In June 2019, Greenpeace occupied the Transoceanowned Paul B Loyd Jr rig in a stand-off lasting 12 days, aimed at preventing it from reaching the BP-operated Vorlich field.
The move, which led to 14 arrests, was blasted as “inherently dangerous” by Transocean lawyer Jonathan Barne who argued Greenpeace did not
know “the layout or activity of the rig”.
Greenpeace was ultimately fined £80,000.
Later that year, the group staged “peaceful protests” at the Shell Brent field against the operator’s plans to leave some of the platform legs, and their oil-sediment contents, in the sea to degrade over centuries.
Police Scotland chief inspector Neil Anderson, from the Operational Support Division, said: “The Energy Liaison Unit regularly run routine training exercises throughout the year in conjunction with the oil and gas industry so they are prepared and ready to respond to any potential incidents.”