Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Victoria Abramchenko instructed Rosprirodnadzor to assess the real scale of the oil spill in the Black Sea near Novorossiysk, which occurred on August 7. 

The department, in particular, was instructed to check the data on the volumes of fuel spills, which were presented at the Russian Academy of Sciences, TASS reports with reference to the press service of the Deputy Prime Minister.

In addition, the management of Rosprirodnadzor must control the liquidation work and the restoration of the aquatic environment in the incident area.

“Rosprirodnadzor will calculate the damage after the performance of the equipment and the time of the liquid flow have been established.

If necessary, an analysis of the total amount of the collected oil product will be made, ”a representative of the department told TASS.

As a reminder, the incident occurred on Saturday when the Greek vessel Minerva Symphony was loaded through an outboard mooring device from the terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC).

“Indeed, there are problems, salvo discharge of crude oil from Minerva Symphony, home port of Piraeus, flag of Greece.

When loading from the CPC terminal, an external oil loading device - this is in the sea, 6 kilometers from the coast - there was a release of crude oil.

The volume is not clear, ”Rosmorrechflot reported after the incident.

They also said that the owner of CPC created an operational headquarters and attracted professional divisions to eliminate the consequences of the oil spill. 

Later, the press service of the consortium reported that the cause of the incident was the destruction of the internal cavity of the hydraulic compensator - an integral part of the outboard mooring device.

The spill area was about 200 sq.

m, and the volume is about 12 cubic meters, the CPC said.

“In accordance with the plan for the prevention and elimination of oil spills, CPC-R JSC immediately took the necessary measures to eliminate the contingency situation,” the company said.

  • Novorossiysk Commercial Sea Port

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In particular, the forces and means of a professional rescue team were involved in eliminating the consequences of the emergency, booms were set up and four oil-gathering systems and tanks for collecting oil were involved.

During the liquidation of the consequences of the accident, oil shipment at the CPC marine terminal was temporarily stopped.

After some time, the spill was localized.

The CPC stated that the situation did not pose a danger to the local population, as well as to the flora and fauna of the Black Sea.

At the same time, the Southern Transport Prosecutor's Office reported that upon the fact of the oil spill, an audit is being carried out to verify compliance with the requirements of environmental legislation and legislation in the field of safe operation of water transport.

In turn, the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences estimated the area of ​​the oil spill at almost 80 square meters.

km. 

The IKI statement specifies that the oil spill was detected on a radar image of the European satellite Sentinel-1, received on August 8 at 18:20 local time.

It was appreciated by the chief researcher of the Institute of Oceanology of the Russian Academy of Sciences named after V.I.

P. P. Shirshova Andrey Kostyanoy and leading researcher of the Institute of Computer Science of the Russian Academy of Sciences Olga Lavrova.

“According to their calculations, the spill is much larger than the declared one, since the area of ​​oil pollution at the time of the radar survey was almost 80 square kilometers.

On August 8, the oil slick was extended from the coast into the open sea at a distance of 19 kilometers, ”the institute said.

The mayor of Novorossiysk Igor Dyachenko, commenting on the incident, said that experts had not identified any pollution on the city's beaches after the emergency. 

"There is no pollution anywhere: Shirokaya Balka, Yuzhnaya Ozereevka, the central beach," he said, stressing that all the beaches continue to work.

At the same time, the workers of the dolphinarium on Bolshoy Utrish near Anapa reported the discovery of oil stains in the water area after the incident.

“Employees quickly take out the ribbons of the sorbing boom - like a huge sponge, it will attract and absorb the oil film from the water surface, preventing it from penetrating the enclosures and harming the animals,” the dolphinarium's Instagram page says.

The Federal Agency for Fishery announced its readiness to provide support in assessing the consequences of the oil spill, as well as in eliminating them.

Dmitry Klokov, head of the joint press service of the Federal Agency for Fisheries, also recalled that this is not the first case of an oil spill in recent years.

“We are talking about increasing environmental responsibility as a global trend, but we are faced with such manifestations of negligence of employees of companies using natural resources for economic purposes to the detriment of others, in this case water. We are sure that Rosprirodnadzor, in conscience with the RAS, will objectively assess the damage caused, ”he said.