Russia’s First Shipment of Arctic Oil to Europe Arrives in Netherlands
The world’s first petroleum extracted from beneath the Arctic Ocean is now on its way to Western Europe, where a leading environmental group is preparing to stage a protest against Arctic oil development.
The Russian oil tanker Mikhail Ulyanov, carrying 70,000 tons of crude oil from the Prirazlomnaya oil field in the Pechora Sea, docked at the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands.
Russia became the first nation to drill for oil in the Arctic after Gazprom, the nation’s leading energy company, set up the Prirazlomnaya platform, which was designed to withstand extreme weather conditions, including sea ice.
Upon the ship’s arrival in Rotterdam Thursday morning, Greenpeace International activists attempted to interfere with its docking and 31 people were arrested by Dutch authorities.
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The Obama administration has pushed aggressively to allow oil drilling in the Arctic regions of Alaska, but thus far the drilling companies have been unable to overcome the dangerous conditions. They also have been unable to come up with credible solutions to possible accidents and oil spills.
http://www.allgov.com/news/us-and-the-world/russias-first-shipment-of-arctic-oil-to-europe-arrives-in-netherlands-140501?news=853045
