Statoil had to face a challenge to its frontier Arctic exploration drilling after activists from Greenpeace boarded the Transocean Spitsbergen rig as it headed out to spud a new frontier exploration well in the Barents Sea on the Apollo prospect.

An unspecified number of Greenpeace personnel boarded the rig on 27 May while it was located 300 km (187 miles) offshore and heading towards the Barents Sea Hoop area to drill on the Apollo prospect after Statoil had received permission to operate there from Norway’s Ministry of Climate and Environment.

Subsequently several left the rig and those remaining have since been arrested and were in custody with Norwegian police.

The rig is now en route to the Hoop area where it will drill two wells, the first on Apollo.

Apollo is one of two wells planned by Statoil – the other prospect is called Atlantis. Both are in license PL615 about 50 km (31 miles) north of PL537, where the 7324/8-1 Wisting Central oil discovery in the Barents made last September (operated by Austria’s OMV), in a water depth of 373 m (1,223 ft). Wisting Central was drilled by the Leiv Eiriksson semisubmersible and encountered 50-60 m (164-200?ft) of oil.