Greenpeace activists have climbed aboard a ship carrying a Shell drilling platform in protest, according to the environmental organisation. The action comes two days before the presentation of Shell’s 2022 annual results.

The heavy-lift vessel, the White Marlin, belongs to Dutch maritime services provider Boskalis. According to Greenpeace, four activists managed to climb onto the vessel with ropes. This happened in the Atlantic Ocean, near the Canary Islands. The activists are Carlos Marcelo Bariggi Amara from Argentina, Yakup Çetinkaya from Turkey, Imogen Michel from the United Kingdom, and Usnea Granger from the United States. Two other activists, Yeb Saño from the Philippines, and Waya Pesik Maweru from Indonesia failed to board the White Marlin.

Mr Saño, executive director of Greenpeace Southeast Asia, who is now on the vessel, stated: “Shell must stop drilling and start paying. We’re taking action today because when Shell extracts fossil fuels it causes a ripple of death, destruction and displacement around the world, having the worst impact on people who are least to blame for the climate crisis.”

The ship is carrying a large platform that can be used for oil and gas extraction, the 34,000-tonne Shell Penguins floating production platform (FPSO). Boskalis reported in early December that the ship with the platform on it had departed from Qingdao, China. It is heading for Norwegian waters. Greenpeace’s message at the offshore protest is: ‘Stop drilling. Start paying.’ The organisation believes Shell should stop extracting fossil fuels due to the fact that it contributes to global warming, and that “They must take accountability for decades of profiting from climate injustice, and pay for the loss and damage they’ve caused,” according to Saño.