New drilling programme sparks legal threats

Greenpeace accused ministers of breaching domestic and European laws by granting licences for offshore drilling before the causes of Deepwater Horizon oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico had been properly established.

Lawyers for the group have written to the government demanding a halt to the licensing process for new offshore oil exploration and production and to consult on a new full environmental assessment of deep water drilling.

Greenpeace has given ministers 14 days to halt the licensing process and begin the environmental assessment, otherwise it will mount a legal challenge.

The NGO's chief executive John Sauven said: "The government is waving through applications for for new drilling as if the Deepwater Horizon explosion never happened.

"The disaster was a game changer, so ministers should suspend new deep water licences and companies like Cairn Energy must stop dangerous drilling in the Arctic and start investing in clean alternatives instead."

A spokeswoman for the Department of Energy and Climate Change said: "We are carefully considering the points made by Greenpeace.

"However, we believe we have a robust regulatory regime and for the 26th licensing round we have complied and will continue to comply with all the required environmental processes."

The threat of legal action comes as four Greenpeace climbers who spent nearly 48 hours on a Arctic oil rig operated by the British-based Cairn Energy ended their occupation early on Thursday morning in the face of strong winds and freezing conditions.