The company has been made aware of the campaigning group’s plan to cause disruption in the area around the site as part of a protest against the oil sector. The group, who calls itself ‘Just Stop Oil’, is ‘a coalition of groups working together to ensure the government commits to halting new fossil fuel licensing and production’ and has recently been involved in several high-profile protests involving Premier League football matches, which have seen demonstrators tie, or attempt to tie, themselves to goalposts.
Disruptive action
With Essar commenting that ‘the M53, M56 and Oil Sites Road could be target areas’ for the group if a protest is held this week, steps are being taken at the Stanlow site to combat ‘potentially disruptive action’.
In the company statement, Essar said: “We have been advised of some potential disruption at Stanlow this week. We have been made aware of a campaigning group called ‘Just Stop Oil’ who have the intention of taking potentially disruptive action against participants in the oil sector.
“Our priority is the safety of our staff, our operations and our local communities. We have a robust and well-practised approach to incident planning and our teams on site have a clear understanding of how to respond well to such events.
“Management of public order incidents like this is the responsibility of the emergency planning authorities, and we are working closely with them to understand, prepare for and respond to this event. They are closely monitoring the situation and providing us with timely information and practical help and advice.”