Greenpeace and Shell Settle Multi-Million-Dollar Lawsuit for Boarding FPSO

The UK’s Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) is the beneficiary as activist environmental group Greenpeace and oil major Shell agreed to settle a multi-million-dollar lawsuit brought after protestors boarded and occupied an FPSO while it was being transported in Europe. Shell had sued in 2023 seeking damages it incurred during a 13-day protest where Greenpeace volunteers occupied an oil platform while it was being moved aboard a heavy-lift vessel. 

Greenpeace said the suit was one of the largest legal threats its UK group had faced in over 50 years of campaigning. Shell initially sued for $2.1 million, but was also seeking legal costs which were estimated at $10 million. Shell reduced its claim to potentially $1 million. Greenpeace was appealing and a trial had been expected in 2026. Shell reportedly has already spent $2.5 million on the case.

The two sides agreed to a settlement that will see Greenpeace donate £300,000 ($383,000) to the RNLI, a charity that provides lifeboat search and rescue, lifeguards, water safety education, and flood rescue around the UK. In addition, Greenpeace defendants have agreed not to travel within 500 meters (1,640 feet) of three Shell sites in the North Sea for five years and another site for 10 years. Greenpeace is challenging the consent on Shell’s Jackdaw gas rig while saying the sites it has agreed to avoid were not primary targets.

“We stay independent and can keep holding Big Oil to account,” said Areeba Hamid, Co-Executive Director at Greenpeace UK. “We’ve ensured not a penny of our supporters’ money will go to Shell and all funds raised will be used to continue campaigning against the fossil fuel industry and other big polluters.”

Shell’s initial settlement offer called for Greenpeace to agree not to take action at any Shell installation at sea or port, anywhere in the world. The group said it firmly rejected the offer.

Greenpeace has repeatedly targeted Shell and other oil majors and this was not the first time Shell had sued for damages. Shell had filed a complaint in 2015 over a similar boarding incident and in 2019 won a legal case in The Netherlands. The group’s protestors have also targeted refineries and in announcing the settlement with Shell the group today vowed to continue protests against Shell including in the North Sea.

During the 2023 protest, four Greenpeace activists boarded an underway heavy-lift vessel carrying an FPSO unit saying they would occupy the equipment to call attention to their demands to stop offshore oil drilling. They traveled approximately 2,150 nautical miles and were later joined by additional protestors despite a court order to stay away from the transport. The demonstrators only left after the vessel arrived in Norway with the group saying it was its longest-ever protest.

Shell accused them of damaging a padlock (which Greenpeace denied) and justified the suit saying Shell and the operator of the heavy-lift vessel took steps to protect the safety of the activists while they were aboard the platform. Greenpeace calls it a peaceful protest and maintains the action was safe, and carried out by exports.

The group accuses big oil and other corporations of suing to harass the organization. Greenpeace reports it is facing further legal battles around the world. In the U.S., Greenpeace is being sued for hundreds of millions of dollars by Energy Transfer, a pipeline company, over protests in 2016 at the Dakota Access Pipeline. Greenpeace Italy and Greenpeace Netherlands are also being sued by Italian oil major ENI.