Oil spill near Novorossiysk

On August 7, 2021 at 16.49 Moscow time at the CPC Marine Terminal in South Ozereevka during the loading of the tanker Minerva Symphony (Greek flag, port of registry Piraeus) at the tanker's tanker loading unit (TLU №1) oil spurt occurred. The reason of the accident was the internal cavity damage of the hydrocompensator, being the part of the TLU (tanker's external mooring unit).

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, at whose terminal the incident occurred, previously estimated the area of contamination at 200 square meters. However, as rbk.ru reports, RAN examined the satellite image, received on August 8 and found the area of the spill to be almost 80 square kilometers, which is hundred thousand times larger. Currently employees of the institute continue to analyze images from Sentinel-1 satellite and meteorological data for a detailed assessment of the incident. The area of oil products spill indicates the event, which caused a federal emergency situation.

The emergency situation could have been prevented with high probability if the CPC Marine Terminal had been equipped with the Structured Building and Structural Engineering Systems Monitoring System (SMIS) which functions are real-time automated control of critical life support systems and facility structures operability.

Photo: iki.cosmos.ru

Press-service of Engineering Center of State Emergency Situations BAZIS