SYKTYVKAR, July 3. /TASS/. About 1,000 cubic meters of oil may have leaked into the Kolva River in the Russian Republic of Komi as a result of an accident at a field pipeline belonging to the Nobel Oil Company at the Yuzhno-Oshsky oil field, Svetlana Radionova, head of Russia’s Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor), said on Monday.

According to her, the company did not provide any information to the environmental watchdog. "A gas pipeline was ruptured in the vicinity of Usinsk. According to our calculations, 1,000 cubic meters of oil may have ended up in the Kolva River. The Nobel Oil Company did not provide any information to us and claimed it was holding drills. We found out about the spill from community activists and the local Ministry of Natural Resources," Radionova wrote on her Telegram channel.

She said that oil products had contaminated soil and water causing major environmental damage. "We will insist on an emergency inspection. Together with CLATI (The Center for Laboratory Analysis and Technical Metrology - TASS), we will collect water and soil samples," Radionova said.

Reports of an oil spill emerged on July 2. A heightened alert regime was declared in the affected municipality with 18 first responders dealing with the aftermath of the spill. Local residents have been warned against using water from the river. The regional prosecutor general’s office and investigators from the local branch of the Russian Investigative Committee are conducting inspections.