A leak on a Russian oil pipeline caused an oil spill in the Black Sea near the port of Tuapse, Russia.
The incident occurred on Wednesday and it was confirmed by the Russia’s emergencies ministry, but the ministry did not reveal the size of the spill.
According to Reuters , the officials said that the stormy weather was hampering efforts to assess and respond to the mishap.
Reuters quotes Sergei Proskurin , first deputy captain of the port of Tuapse, as saying: “Some quantity of oil has spilled into the sea.”
Furthermore, he said that the emergencies services were working to deploy temporary floating barriers to contain the spill, but were being delayed by the stormy conditions.
Tuapse is a sea port and the northern center of a resort zone which extends south to the town of Sochi. Russia’s oil giant Rosneft, which controls a refinery in Tuapse, said that the work at the refinery remains unaffected as it was drawing crude from its stocks.
The refinery processes crude oil from Western Siberia, which is delivered via the Transneft pipeline system, as well as crude oil produced by Rosneft in Southern Russia and delivered via the Transneft pipeline system and by rail.
Tuapse refinery, in the Krasnodar region, was commissioned in 1929 and is the oldest Rosneft’s refinery. The plant is the only Russian refinery on the Black Sea coast.
Offshore Energy Today Staff
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