Replacing the pipeline, originally constructed in 1972, will help keep 100 tankers a day off the road, Esso claims. It is due for completion next year. Esso Petroleum Company Limited, owned by ExxonMobil, was granted an interim injunction against Breen and "persons unknown" after a hearing before Mr Justice Eyre at the Royal Courts of Justice in London on Monday. Timothy Morshead QC, representing Esso, said in written submissions that it urgently sought the injunction to prevent people from "conspiring to injure" its business "by unlawful means". "The unlawful means in question consist of the actual and threatened trespasses to goods and also to land which [Esso] has experienced – and which continues to be threatened against the pipeline project," Morshead said. "The activities carried out by some protesters go far beyond lawful and peaceful protest, and give rise to serious health and safety concerns."