The **Prirazlomnaya Oil Rig Occupation** was an
[environmentalist](Environmentalism "wikilink") effort to block the
construction of an offshore oil rig in [Russia](Russia "wikilink") in
[2012](Timeline_of_Libertarian_Socialism_in_Northern_Asia "wikilink").

## Background

Gazprom, Russia’s largest oil company, intended to become the first
company to drill Arctic oil in the summer of 2012. Gazprom planned to
use their aging Prirazlomnaya oil platform to extract oil deposits made
newly available with the retreat of Arctic ice on the Pechora Sea.\[1\]

## Events

Six environmentalists affiliated with Greenpeace departed from the ship
*Arctic Sunrise* on three inflatable dories and scaled the oil platform.
For five days the activists occupied the platform, facing Gazprom’s
violent attempts to disperse them. Activists were blasted with water
cannons, and multiple attempts were made to force activists into the
sea. According to Greenpeace reporting, the activists only backed down
on the fifth day because the last remaining dory was pulled vertically
by a Gazprom cable, intentionally dumping all activists into the ocean
below. In early September Greenpeace activists in Moscow dressed as
Polar Bears and protested outside Gazprom’s headquarters. Some activists
chained themselves to fences, and police arrested some of these
campaigners. Simultaneously, activists in Germany constructed a leaky
oil derrick outside Gazprom offices in Berlin.\[2\]

## Results

Greenpeace's efforts blocked the construction of the Prirazlomnaya Oil
Rig.\[3\]

## References

<references />

1.  [Global Nonviolent Action
    Database](Global_Nonviolent_Action_Database "wikilink"): [Greenpeace
    challenges Gazprom, prevents oil production at Prirazlomnaya
    field, 2012](https://nvdatabase.swarthmore.edu/content/greenpeace-challenges-gazprom-prevents-oil-production-prirazlomnaya-field-2012)
2.
3.