Greenpeace's ship, the Esperanza, is still on station in the Arctic to expose renewed Norwegian efforts to drill for oil in this pristine environment. Last week Greenpeace successfully headed off attempts by an oil company to complete controversial seismic testing, commissioned by the Norwegian Petroleum Directorate in the absence of any political discussion, by revealing it in prime time TV news. Norwegian oil interests are persistent but Greenpeace say that they are determined to stop them. This week the Esperanza approached the Statoil oil rig Transocean Spitsbergen located over the Isfjell well, just south of Bear Island in the Barents Sea. "They are really eager to drill, too eager," pointed out Erlend Tellnes, an Arctic campaigner with Greenpeace Nordic.
