Seismic testing in the Barents Sea, commissioned by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, has been stopped four days after Greenpeace exposed the testing programme in the Norwegian TV2 news. The Greenpeace ship Esperanza approached the research vessel Artemis Atlantic on Wednesday when it changed course towards Hammerfest.
Seismic mapping is the very first step of oil exploration. An air gun shoots sound pulses that penetrate the seafloor and the reflected sound waves are then recorded by sensors dragged on long cables after the ship. The data collected is used to map the seafloor so that oil companies can look for positions where they can drill for oil.
Sound travels extremely well under water and the noises from seismic vessels have been recorded thousands of kilometres away. Marine mammals depend on sounds to navigate and feed and they are incredibly vulnerable to these loud noises. In extreme cases, it could cause physical damage or severe disorientation that can lead to strandings and death.
“This seismic testing program was an unacceptable sneak opening of the vulnerable and ice covered Svalbard zone for oil drilling. We are happy that the Petroleum Directorate decided to stop it, but we think that it should not have happened in the first place”, says Truls Gulowsen, Greenpeace Nordic Programme Manager in Norway.
The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate decided to stop the testing in the Svalbard waters one month before schedule. A route of 5,600 kilometres was tested while the plan was to test 7,100 kilometres. The most controversial northernmost part of the planned testing area was not tested. The Petroleum Directorate has faced pressure from environmental organisations and the Norwegian Liberal Party and Christian Democratic Party, but it has insisted that other reasons led to the cancellation.
Several key politicians in Norway have voiced that this program is in breach of the Governmental Declaration, which was negotiated between the Government and the supporting Liberal and Christian Democrats. The Declaration states clearly that “petroleum activity shall not occur near the ice edge”. (1)
Greenpeace believes the icy waters of the Arctic are far too vulnerable for oil activities, and are calling on Norway as well as other governments of the world to refrain from exploiting these costly resources, that the world cannot afford to burn if we are to avoid dangerous climate change.
The Greenpeace ship Esperanza has been in Svalbard waters several weeks this summer, and was approaching the seismic operation on Wednesday, when the Artemis Atlantic changed course towards Hammerfest. Esperanza is still sailing in the Svalbard zone, currently documenting seabirds at Bear Island, which are at risk from Statoil and Rosneft joint drilling program at the Pingvin well South of the island.
Read more about Norway’s seismic attack on the Arctic http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/news/Blogs/makingwaves/arctic-seismic-mapping/blog/50308/
Notes:
(1) Article 4, paragraph C in
the political agreement between the four political parties Venstre, Kristelig
Folkeparti, Fremskrittspartiet and Høyre that prohibits any petroleum activity
close to the ice edge in the years 2014-2017. https://www.hoyre.no/filestore/Filer/Politikkdokumenter/Samarbeidsavtale.pdf
