The Prirazlomnaya Oil Rig Occupation was an environmentalist effort to block the construction of an offshore oil rig in Russia in 2012.
Background
Gazprom, Russia’s largest oil company, intended to become the first company to drill Arctic oil in the summer of 2012. Gazprom planned to use their aging Prirazlomnaya oil platform to extract oil deposits made newly available with the retreat of Arctic ice on the Pechora Sea.[1]
Events
Six environmentalists affiliated with Greenpeace departed from the ship Arctic Sunrise on three inflatable dories and scaled the oil platform. For five days the activists occupied the platform, facing Gazprom’s violent attempts to disperse them. Activists were blasted with water cannons, and multiple attempts were made to force activists into the sea. According to Greenpeace reporting, the activists only backed down on the fifth day because the last remaining dory was pulled vertically by a Gazprom cable, intentionally dumping all activists into the ocean below. In early September Greenpeace activists in Moscow dressed as Polar Bears and protested outside Gazprom’s headquarters. Some activists chained themselves to fences, and police arrested some of these campaigners. Simultaneously, activists in Germany constructed a leaky oil derrick outside Gazprom offices in Berlin.[1]
Results
Greenpeace's efforts blocked the construction of the Prirazlomnaya Oil Rig.[1]