Objectors to the proposed onshore gas pipeline in Co Mayo are today taking part in pickets at Statoil service stations.
The Shell to Sea group, whose members include five men jailed last month for preventing work on the pipeline, are picketing several Statoil stations in Dublin this afternoon.
Shell are the main operators of the pipeline taking gas from the Corrib gas field to a refinery in Rossport, nine kilometres from the shore. But Statoil is a 36.5 per cent shareholder in the project, and protesters are placing greater focus on the Norwegian company because it is state-owned.
A picket involving Mayo Independent TD Jerry Cowley took place this afternoon in central Dublin, and more protests are taking place at the time of writing.
The protesters hope adverse publicity the pipline development is attracting in Norway will influence the company. Last week the protesters delivered a letter to the Norwegian embassy in Dublin calling for the government to insist the gas refining is done offshore.
Shell to Sea say the pipeline is dangerous because the pressure at which gas will be piped is far higher than the industry norm. They claim Statoil is not applying the same environmental and safety standards in Mayo they adhere to in their home country, where all refining is offshore.
Eoin O Broin a member of the campaign said: "The standards are quite different in Norway compared to what they have planned in the west of Ireland. The solution to this is to process the gas on offshore platforms as they do in Norway, regardless of the planning process that has gone on here to date - which we regard as flawed."
Statoil issued a brief statement this afternoon saying it was "completely satisfied that the project is being operated in accordance with the highest international standards".
"The company Shell E&P Ireland is the operator of the Corrib Gas Project ... Statoil would encourage protestors to engage with Shell, the operating firm of the Corrib pipeline, in a bid to resolve the dispute," the statement continued.
Labour TD Tommy Broughan today called for the Dáil to be reconvened to discuss the independent review into the granting of permission to build the pipeline being carried out by the Department of Marine.
Mr Broughan said the terms of the review should be widened "to consider all options to resolve the current impasse including the feasibility of an offshore terminal."
The Shell to Sea campaign is gathering political support, particularly since the jailing of the men known as the Rossport Five last month. The leadership of the Green Party and Sinn Féin, along with Independent TDs, are backing the protest, while the Labour Party has expressed concern about the circumstances under which the five men where sent to jail.