Oil spill near Russia's Novorossiisk scrutinized for greater damage to Black Sea

A recent oil spill in Black Sea near Russia's Novorossiisk was put under investigation by state authorities on Aug. 11 after satellite images showed damage from the leak may have been misreported.

The spill occurred on Aug. 7 during the loading of the Greek Minerva Symphony tanker at the oil terminal operated by the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, or CPC, which transports oil from Kazakhstan.

The same day, CPC said the 200-sq meter spill of "approximately 12 cu m" was contained and cleaned up with no threat to the local population or flora and fauna of the Black Sea.

Yet satellite images taken on Aug. 8 and released by Russian scientists at the Russian Space Research Institute late on Aug. 10 showed the spill spread over 85 sq km into the Black Sea.

At the meeting with CPC on Aug. 11, Russian energy minister Nikolay Shulginov "outlined necessity of verifying information about the volume of the oil spill," the ministry said in a statement.

The Institute expects to receive latest satellite images of the spill later in the day and is attempting to estimate the volume of the leak.

"The spill is much larger than declared...The oil slick extended from the coast into the open sea over a distance of 19 km on Aug. 8," it said.

"Of course, the spill was not contained, it is out of the question," the Institute told in a press statement to S&P Global Platts.

The CPC did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Oil loading at the terminal has been performed normally on schedule since Aug. 8.

Russia's natural resources supervisor Rosprirodnadzor, which was ordered to investigate the spill, has already taken water samples to assess the scale and impact of the spill.

The content of oil products in water samples from Black Sea did not breach the maximum permissible concentration, local authorities told the state-owned RG newspaper.

According to estimates by WWF Russia, 100 mt of oil products may have spilled into Black Sea, Prime news agency reported, which could take up to two weeks to collect.

Oil spills are common in Russia . Rosprirodnadzor estimates that in 2019, latest data available, there were 819 oil leaks, covering a total area of 93.6 hectares. Russia's biggest onshore leak is thought to have happened in 1994 when over 800,000 barrels of oil escaped from a pipeline in the Komi region, according to BCS Global Markets.