Greenpeace activists chained themselves to a tanker carrying Russian oil in a failed attempt to keep it from docking in Norway

• Greenpeace activists attempted to block a tanker carrying Russian oil from docking in Norway.
• An ExxonMobil subsidiary operating port said the oil was bought before Russia invaded Ukraine.

Greenpeace activists in Norway chained themselves to a tanker carrying Russian oil in an attempt to block it from offloading fuel at a terminal owned by Esso, an ExxonMobil subsidiary.

The Ust Luga tanker headed to Norway's Slagen oil terminal was carrying 95,000 metric tons of oil, according to the environmental group.

"Oil is not only at the root of the climate crisis, but also of wars and conflicts. I am shocked that Norway operates as a free port for Russian oil, which we know finances Putin's warfare," Frode Pleym, head of Greenpeace Norway, said in a press release published on Monday.

Greenpeace is calling on the Norwegian government to ban the import of Russian fossil fuels and demanding that Esso cancel its contracts with Russia amid the Ukraine war, as outlined in the press release.

"During these two months of Russia's war of aggression, we have seen horrific images and know the unimaginable suffering of the innocent civilian population of Ukraine," Pleym wrote. "The fact that our government still allows the import of Russian fossil fuels in the current situation is unfathomable."

Photos posted to Twitter by Greenpeace's press team appear to show a red rubber dinghy chained to the oil tanker.

—Greenpeace PressDesk (@greenpeacepress) April 25, 2022

ExxonMobil did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. Esso spokesperson Anne Fougner told Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet that the oil was bought before Russia invaded Ukraine and that the company has not made any purchases since the war started.

"The time at which the contract was entered into is utterly irrelevant," Pleym told Insider. "Major corporations, as well as governments, have the ability, funds and moral responsibility to end imports of Russian fossil fuels. If they do not take such action, they are fuelling Putin's gruesome war."

Norway is a major energy exporter. Esso told Reuters the tanker's fuel is used for the blending of marine gasoil.

"The transport of oil from Russia is not itself a violation of the sanctions that currently apply in the EU or in Norway," Ane Haavardsdatter Lunde, a spokesperson for Norway's foreign affairs ministry, told CNN. "The Norwegian authorities therefore have no legal basis to stop a delivery such as this."

The ministry did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment that was sent outside regular business hours.

The Norwegian police said it arrested 20 Greenpeace and Extinction Alliance campaigners who blocked the tanker, per Reuters.

The Hong Kong-registered Ust Luga is now anchored outside Esso's Slagen oil terminal, according to ship tracker Marine Traffic.

Greenpeace is known for its aggressive campaigning. In 2014, its activists trespassed into Procter & Gamble's Cincinnati headquarters in 2014 to stage a protest against tropical deforestation. In 2017, activists from the organization scaled a 270-foot crane several blocks away from the White House to unfurl a giant banner in opposition to former US President Donald Trump.