Shell settles lawsuit against Greenpeace over activists boarding oil vessel

LONDON (Reuters) - British oil and gas major Shell on Tuesday settled a London lawsuit it brought against environmental group Greenpeace after activists boarded a Shell oil production vessel last year.

Greenpeace said it had agreed to pay 300,000 pounds ($382,650) to the Royal National Lifeboat Institute and avoid protesting for a period at four Shell sites in the northern North Sea.

Shell took legal action after Greenpeace activists boarded a vessel in January 2023 near the Canary Islands off the Atlantic coast of northern Africa to protest oil drilling, travelling on it as far as Norway.

The vessel was destined for the Penguins oil and gas field in the North Sea, which is not yet in production.

Four Greenpeace activists used ropes to hoist themselves onto the vessel from inflatable boats that chased the ship at high speed.

Protests at sea against oil, gas or mining infrastructure have long been part of Greenpeace's operations.

($1 = 0.7840 pounds)

(Reporting by Sam Tobin and Sachin Ravikumar; editing by William James)