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Defect in workmanship can cause oil spill under Novorossiysk — CPC

Chief executive of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium Nikolai Gorban pointed out that the failed hydraulic damper is not subject to repair and will be replaced

YUZHNAYA OZEREEVKA, August 13. /TASS/. A manufacturing defect could be the cause of the hydraulic damper failure at the single point mooring of the oil terminal, leading to the oil spill, chief executive of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) Nikolai Gorban told reporters on Friday.

"We are investigating different versions. Nevertheless, the main version is the hidden defect in workmanship. We are already preparing claim documents and called an expert of the manufacturer to be here. The collapse, from our point of view, occurred from inside. We believe this was nevertheless the hidden manufacturing defect," the top manager said.

The failed hydraulic damper is not subject to repair and will be replaced, Gorban noted.

The slick visible on satellite images was most probably suspended matter in water after shower rains occurred the day before, the CPC chief executive said.

The oil spill under Novorossiysk occurred on August 7.

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Victoria Abramchenko ordered earlier the Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resources to assess the actual scale of the oil spill near Novorossiysk from the terminal of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) and check information from the Russian Academy of Sciences about any understatement of the quantity that was spilled.