Environmental activists blocked the gas terminal on Saturday – adressa.no

– Extinction Rebellion (XR) is starting a full blockade of Kårstø, the campaigners announced on Saturday.

The shareholders spoke up Stavanger Aftenblad that the plan was to be at Kårstø in Tysvær municipality for the rest of the day and that the action had been planned for several months. The background is that the ONS fair (Offshore Northern Seas), where the energy industry gathers, gets underway in Stavanger on Monday.

On Saturday evening, the activists had removed themselves, Sørvest police district informs NRK.

Eight kayaks and three motor boats were used to prevent the normal operation of tankers.

– The entrances to Kårstø on land are blocked by people of all ages, among them Greta Thunberg and the Equinor-employed geologist Daniel Sollien, the campaigners told Stavanger Aftenblad.

Equinor informs NRK that operations at the facility have not been affected by the campaign

An Equinor employee led the campaign

– Despite the fact that I am very happy in my job, I am here because the situation is so serious, and far too little is being done. Equinor and the politicians must draw up a plan for phasing out oil and gas now. I can no longer just sit on the sidelines, I have to act, said Equinor geologist Daniel Sollien to Aftenbladet on Saturday.

Kårstø processing plant is a facility for bringing ashore and processing natural gas and light oil (condensate) from Statfjord, Gullfaks, Sleipner, Åsgard and a number of other petroleum fields in the North Sea and Norwegian Sea via the pipelines Statpipe, Åsgard transport and Sleipner Øst condensate pipeline. The facilities at Kårstø have been in operation since 1985.

According to the campaigners, this was the first time Greta Thunberg demonstrated against the Norwegian oil and gas industry.

– Deadly industry

According to Thunberg, the business of the oil companies leads to “death and suffering,” and she calls the industry “deadly.”

– We cannot passively watch the fossil fuel industry take the lives of people and destabilize our vital systems. We are tired of empty words and greenwashing – it is crystal clear that the oil companies’ behavior leads to death and suffering, said Greta Thunberg.

– We are privileged to have the opportunity to act, and therefore we choose to physically stop this deadly industry with our bodies, said the Swedish 21-year-old.

– Will not remove the protesters

Operations leader Henning Vik in the Sørvest police district says the police were notified at 9.30am on Saturday. He did not want to remove the activists from the site.

– As of now, the demonstration is peaceful, and they can make their mark with what they want to say. We continue to monitor so that this does not have any impact on the operation or danger to life and health, Vik told NTB.

There were large waves at the site, and the police were concerned about the protesters who were in rather small boats.

– The coast guard is on its way and will be on standby in the event that any dangerous situations arise.

Small production

Equinor told Reuters that Norwegian gas exports to Europe will not be affected by the action.

– Activists are trying to block our oil terminal at sea and some entrances on land. The oil terminal processes condensate and has a “very small production”, the spokesperson said.

To NRK said Randi Viksund communications director at Gassco, that they were aware of the campaign and that they were following the situation.

– We will always put the safety of the facility first, says Viksund.

The facility was kept in operation throughout the action day.