MOSCOW, August 11. /TASS/. The oil spill near Novorossiysk will disappear soon, but heavy oil residue may pose a lasting threat to holiday-makers and the Utrish wildlife preserve, the head of the program for the Business Environmental Responsibility at WWF-Russia, Alexey Knizhnikov, told TASS on Wednesday.
"We believe that there is a threat to the coastline, but the scale is not clear to us. The oil spill certainly stretches as far as the coastal area in the area of Abrau-Durso and farther to the north. It is four days since the oil spill occurred. The light oil fractions that have spread on the surface are only part of the oil that got into the environment. This thin film will most probably evaporate and disappear from the surface within days," Knizhnikov said.
In the meantime, heavier oil fractions having the form of drops and clots will stay in the maritime environment much longer and will cause toxic effects on sea animals. Also, with a high degree of probability, they will make their way to the shore with the sea current running from the south to the North, where the wildlife preserve of Utrish lies," Knizhnikov said.
Earlier, the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Space Research Institute said that, judging by satellite images, the oil spill near Novorossiysk measured nearly 80 square kilometers in area. On August 7, the federal agency for maritime and river transport Rosmorrechflot told TASS there had been a sudden leak of oil from the Greek tanker Minerva Symphony into the Black Sea at the Caspian Pipeline Consortium’s oil terminal near Novorossiysk during a loading operation. The CPC created a crisis management center. According to the consortium, the spill measured about 200 square meters and the amount of oil in the spill was 12 cubic meters.