Zürcher Nachrichten - Oil from Russian tanker spill reaches Sevastopol

EUR -
AED 4.007862
AFN 78.059331
ALL 98.649563
AMD 426.663758
ANG 1.953448
AOA 995.160462
ARS 1173.547788
AUD 1.810647
AWG 1.966861
AZN 1.906694
BAM 1.950705
BBD 2.200833
BDT 132.419876
BGN 1.955897
BHD 0.411274
BIF 3240.06369
BMD 1.091185
BND 1.472389
BOB 7.531982
BRL 6.50379
BSD 1.089943
BTN 93.947889
BWP 15.384943
BYN 3.56711
BYR 21387.223316
BZD 2.189442
CAD 1.547954
CDF 3132.791789
CHF 0.936255
CLF 0.028173
CLP 1081.113596
CNY 7.975031
CNH 8.048077
COP 4802.599202
CRC 559.594769
CUC 1.091185
CUP 28.916399
CVE 109.975732
CZK 25.178021
DJF 194.099029
DKK 7.466023
DOP 68.368292
DZD 145.718989
EGP 55.947227
ERN 16.367773
ETB 143.725565
FJD 2.546007
FKP 0.85732
GBP 0.855353
GEL 3.000464
GGP 0.85732
GHS 16.895264
GIP 0.85732
GMD 78.018536
GNF 9432.190566
GTQ 8.406351
GYD 228.043168
HKD 8.478945
HNL 27.884888
HRK 7.537581
HTG 142.61097
HUF 407.199094
IDR 18462.684206
ILS 4.110739
IMP 0.85732
INR 94.137555
IQD 1427.705463
IRR 45938.882935
ISK 145.116458
JEP 0.85732
JMD 172.107307
JOD 0.773543
JPY 160.645869
KES 141.306963
KGS 94.995391
KHR 4362.006341
KMF 491.579027
KPW 982.040711
KRW 1611.385499
KWD 0.336183
KYD 0.908294
KZT 564.597034
LAK 23611.491445
LBP 97663.80827
LKR 325.905626
LRD 217.99459
LSL 21.227632
LTL 3.221985
LVL 0.660046
LYD 6.061058
MAD 10.415976
MDL 19.35287
MGA 5102.047684
MKD 61.47246
MMK 2290.816872
MNT 3829.805834
MOP 8.723175
MRU 43.147881
MUR 49.21899
MVR 16.805124
MWK 1890.019223
MXN 22.519229
MYR 4.900513
MZN 69.737871
NAD 21.225886
NGN 1706.045756
NIO 40.108179
NOK 11.923841
NPR 150.334486
NZD 1.954285
OMR 0.420063
PAB 1.089953
PEN 4.049194
PGK 4.500246
PHP 62.668897
PKR 305.960976
PLN 4.267504
PYG 8738.495684
QAR 3.973068
RON 4.977548
RSD 117.170321
RUB 93.566967
RWF 1543.182399
SAR 4.096226
SBD 9.074655
SCR 15.672711
SDG 655.259815
SEK 10.926083
SGD 1.474884
SHP 0.8575
SLE 24.82443
SLL 22881.602168
SOS 622.918627
SRD 40.213464
STD 22585.323572
SVC 9.536915
SYP 14187.103336
SZL 21.214726
THB 37.986873
TJS 11.842744
TMT 3.819147
TND 3.360032
TOP 2.555667
TRY 41.475169
TTD 7.392436
TWD 35.93654
TZS 2934.195951
UAH 44.895124
UGX 4045.766291
USD 1.091185
UYU 46.370581
UZS 14132.604194
VES 79.946772
VND 28398.086062
VUV 136.46298
WST 3.102469
XAF 654.307934
XAG 0.036193
XAU 0.000363
XCD 2.948982
XDR 0.813671
XOF 654.236167
XPF 119.331742
YER 268.049251
ZAR 21.320606
ZMK 9821.972548
ZMW 30.383424
ZWL 351.361081
  • CMSC

    0.0400

    22.21

    +0.18%

  • RBGPF

    -7.7300

    60.27

    -12.83%

  • NGG

    0.8300

    63.73

    +1.3%

  • BCC

    0.9230

    92.813

    +0.99%

  • RELX

    0.5400

    46.07

    +1.17%

  • JRI

    0.3220

    11.582

    +2.78%

  • SCS

    -0.1300

    10.07

    -1.29%

  • RYCEF

    0.4500

    8.68

    +5.18%

  • BCE

    -0.7400

    21.34

    -3.47%

  • RIO

    -1.3500

    53.21

    -2.54%

  • CMSD

    0.0400

    22.52

    +0.18%

  • VOD

    -0.0350

    8.315

    -0.42%

  • BTI

    0.7300

    40.16

    +1.82%

  • AZN

    0.2100

    66

    +0.32%

  • BP

    -0.4050

    26.765

    -1.51%

  • GSK

    -0.4950

    34.345

    -1.44%

Oil from Russian tanker spill reaches Sevastopol
Oil from Russian tanker spill reaches Sevastopol / Photo: Handout - Russian Emergencies Ministry/AFP

Oil from Russian tanker spill reaches Sevastopol

Oil from two ageing and damaged Russian tankers was detected Friday off the coast of Sevastopol, the largest city in Moscow-annexed Crimea, a local official said.

Text size:

The Volgoneft-212 and the Volgoneft-239 were hit by a storm last month in the Kerch Strait linking Crimea to the southern Russian Krasnodar region, about 250 kilometres (155 miles) from Sevastopol.

One sank and the other ran aground, pouring around 2,400 tonnes of a heavy fuel oil called mazut into the surrounding waters, Russia's transport ministry said.

"A small oil slick reached Sevastopol today," the Moscow-installed head of the city, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said on Telegram, publishing a video of the oil.

He said it was around 1.5 metres (five feet) in width and length.

Sevastopol, with a population of over half a million, is the historic home of the Russian navy's Black Sea fleet. It has been heavily targeted by Ukraine throughout the nearly three-year conflict.

Already last month, Russia's emergencies ministry released photos of clean-up work on a beach in Krasnodarskiy Kray, east of Crimea.

President Vladimir Putin has called the tanker spills an "ecological disaster".

Hundreds of volunteers have been deployed to scoop up contaminated soil from beaches in Crimea and along Russia's southern coast.

- Clean-up hampered by conflict -

The transport ministry said this type of fuel oil was particularly hard to clean because it is dense and heavy and does not float on the surface.

This is the first incident of its kind ever involving M-100 grade mazut, the ministry added.

"There is no proven technology anywhere in the world to remove it from the water column," it said on social media.

"Therefore the main method is collection from the shoreline, when the mazut has been dumped on the coastal zone," it added.

Around 78,000 tonnes of contaminated soil and sand has been removed from beaches so far, Russia's emergency situations ministry said Friday. Up to 200,000 tonnes may need to be removed.

Iryna Babanina, a researcher at the UK-based Conflict and Environment Observatory (CEOBS), said a lack of equipment had hampered Russian clean-up operations.

And while an international convention against pollution covered the Black Sea, "proper actions to address the emergency became impossible during the war", she said.

Because of the conflict, deploying "special vessels, aircrafts and other equipment is impossible", she added.

"Information exchange between countries is also problematic. Only the satellite imagery can provide more or less reliable insight."

- 'Shadow fleet' -

Ukraine has denounced Russia over the spill, accusing it of trying to ship oil products in vessels unfit for harsh winter sea conditions.

Under Western sanctions, Russia has resorted to using a "shadow fleet" of mostly old tankers to export its fuels around the world.

"While we do not know if these exact two ships that sank were the part of shadow oil transportation operations -- and there is scarce information about what and where they were carrying -- the increase of the 'shadow fleet' is an environmental time bomb," Babanina said.

The problem, she added, was that "it's not clear how the safety of such ships is controlled and who is responsible in case of the disaster".

Russia seized the Crimean peninsula in 2014 following a pro-EU revolution in Kyiv.

L.Zimmermann--NZN