MEDIA UPDATE OCCUPATION OF STENA DEE OIL PLATFORM IN ATLANTIC FRONTIER

11 August 1997

Forty eight hours after commencing its occupation of the Stena Dee oil drilling platform in the North East Atlantic, Greenpeace has issued a challenge to BP.

BP, the company managing the Foinaven oil field for which the Stena Dee was headed, has been offered a solution to the occupation. In a letter to the company's Chief Executive John Browne, Greenpeace said, "If you will agree to 'call off' the Stena Dee and return her to port, and not take any steps to further facilitate the production of oil from Petrojarl Foinaven, our activists will disembark. Otherwise we reserve the right to take whatever non-violent direct action is necessary, in the interests of the climate, to make production of oil from the Foinaven field impossible, pending the 1st September meeting."

On September 1st John Browne has a meeting with Greenpeace's Executive Director Peter Melchett, the agenda for this meeting, as defined in today's letter is, "...to accept the carbon logic (the amount of fossil fuel which can be burnt without causing irreparable climate change) and your industry's role in it, leading to the inevitable need for a fossil fuel phase out."

Meanwhile the occupation continues with two activists remaining chained onto the platform. Earlier this afternoon the Stena Dee began moving again so Greenpeace placed four swimmers and the MV Greenpeace one third of a mile ahead of the platform, directly in its path. This forced the vessel to change course and halted its progress towards Foinaven.

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FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:

Greenpeace Press Office on +44 (0)171-865 8255/6/7/8