Greenpeace sends vessels to protest Greenland oil

COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Environmental group Greenpeace has sent two vessels into the northern North Sea to protest against oil exploration off Greenland, the organization and officials said on Tuesday.

Greenpeace's action came as British explorer Cairn Energy laid out its plans for drilling off Greenland this summer and began preparing to move the Leiv Eiriksson rig into position.

Greenpeace said in a statement that its Esperanza and Arctic Sunrise vessels had "found" the rig on Monday 200 miles west of Greenland after a week-long search and they were in a "tense stand-off" with Danish navy commandos on an escort vessel.

Greenland deputy chief of police Morten Nielsen said the rig and the Greenpeace vessels had not reached Greenland's waters.

"As far as I am aware, Greenpeace are present in the North Sea with two ships to take a look at a rig that Cairn Energy is sending up North to Greenland," Nielsen told Reuters.

"As far as the wording is concerned about a tense stand-off, that sounds pretty far-fetched," Nielsen said, adding that a Danish Navy ship was "keeping an eye on things."

Greenpeace, which last year tried to disrupt Cairn's Greenland drilling campaign, said the company should abandon its Greenland activities and called for the rig to leave the area immediately.

Greenpeace also said confidential British Foreign Office documents showed the UK government recognized an Arctic oil spill would be all but impossible to clean up.

Greenpeace said it obtained Foreign Office documents under Freedom of Information rules, including an email exchange concerning BP's and Rosneft's plans, which subsequently collapsed, to cooperate in Arctic drilling.

In an email posted on Greenpeace's website (http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/sites/files/gpuk/SCN_0002.pdf), an official, whose name is blacked out, says that "it is difficult to get assistance in case of pollution problems in such areas, and near impossible to make good damage caused."

International studies have highlighted problems of drilling in the Arctic and say spill prevention should be the first priority.

A 2008 report by the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP), part of the Arctic Council of countries with Arctic territories including the United States and Russia, also pointed to big problems in cleaning up.

"Consideration should be given to whether Arctic areas should be opened for oil and gas activities or transportation where the methods of dealing with a spill or other major accident are lacking," the report said.

It pointed to gaps in fighting oil spills and said there had never been a test of a major spill onto ice in the Arctic.

(Additional reporting by Alister Doyle in Oslo; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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