Authorities Warn Russian Fuel Oil Spill Could be an "Ecological Disaster"

Oil booms are reported to have been installed and large sections of the Sakhalin Island beach are said to have been successfully cleaned.

Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of Sakhalin region, has warned the recent fuel oil spill in the region could be "an ecological disaster," local media reports.

Clean up efforts are said to be continuing after a spill caused by Russian-flagged tanker, the Nadezhda, which grounded on a reef off of Nevelsk, Sakhalin Island in Russia on November 28, contaminated at least 2 miles of coastline, extending 12 feet above the waterline, according to UK media reports.

One Russian news agency said as much as 11 km (6.8 miles) had been contaminated by the spill.

As Ship & Bunker reported last week, the 1,139 DWT tanker ran aground in the Tatar Strait while carrying 786 tonnes of fuel oil and diesel fuel.

"We consider it a fairly serious incident," said Alexei Knizhnikov, a World Wildlife Fund representative, noting that damage from the spill is likely to be restricted to the western part of Sakhalin.

The clean up operation, which has included 100 personnel and local Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) Boomerang and Sakhalin Environment Watch, is said to have persisted despite poor weather.

Oil booms are reported to have been installed, and large sections of the beach are said to have been successfully cleaned.

However photos are said to have been released by Nevelsk's town administration showing oil covered seabirds and rocks.

Operations are also reported to be underway to clean and rehabilitate as many of the affected seabirds as possible.

A temporary road is also said to have been under construction Tuesday in order to allow for easier access to the tanker and expedite the clean up operation, which has been estimated to take at least two weeks for completion.

Removing the remaining fuel in the Nadezhda is reported to have been planned alongside hopes that the operation would lighten the vessel enough to free it from the obstruction on which it grounded.

In October, a 14km long oil slick was reported to have been caused by a collision between two tankers, Japanese-flagged Wako Maru No 2 and Panamanian-flagged Sulphur Garland, 10 nautical miles off Shimonoseki, Japan.