Just Stop Oil protestors block access to Nustar Clydebank oil terminal

Climate change activities have blocked the entrance to an oil terminal calling for an end to new oil and gas protests.

On Tuesday morning, around 20 Just Stop Oil protesters blockaded the entrance at Nustar Clydebank oil terminal, climbing on top of tankers and locking themselves to the entrance.

A further 12 campaigners sat on pipes and three gathered on silos in a bid to halt production.

The activists said they are taking action in a bid to urge the UK Government to end new oil and gas projects in the UK.

It is the first Scottish protest since the Just Stop Oil coalition began blockading fuel terminals south of the border on April 1.

Just Stop Oil protest at Nustar Terminals, Dock Street, Clydebank, Dumbartonshire Email

Protester Neil Rothnie, a retired offshore oil and gas worker, said: “North Sea oil and gas does not offer energy security. The North Sea oil and gas industry has one priority and it is not the climate crisis. It’s not the future of North Sea oil and gas workers. And it’s certainly not whether the poor can stay warm.”

The 69-year-old continued: “If the government was serious about a just transition we would be seeing it here in Scotland. Where are the turbine factories in Scotland? Where are the yards building platforms for offshore wind? Where are the projects to properly insulate our houses? When will we get free public transport?”

Police Scotland confirmed it was in attendance at the protest.

A force spokesman said: “Officers are currently engaging with a group of people who are carrying out a protest at Rothesay Dock in Clydebank, which was reported to police around 4.10am on Tuesday May 3.

“Police Scotland is a rights-based organisation that puts our values of integrity, fairness, respect and a commitment to upholding human rights at the heart of everything we do.

“This means that we will protect the rights of people who wish to peacefully protest or counter-protest, balanced against the rights of the wider community.”

A UK Government spokesman said: “We will not bend to the will of activists who naively want to extinguish North Sea oil and gas production.

“Doing so would put energy security and British jobs at risk, and simply increases foreign imports, whilst not reducing demand.

“We are committed to a strong North Sea industry as we transition away from expensive fossil fuels over the coming decades, and our recent British Energy Security Strategy sets out a long-term plan to ramp up cheap renewables and nuclear energy.”