The risk of facing serious adverse effects from the oil spill in the Kerch Strait is low, but we continue to monitor satellite images and follow oceanographic forecasts to be prepared in case the currents move from this area or from the Crimean area to the Romanian coast, Romania's Environmental Minister Mircea Fechet wrote on Friday in a social media post, informs Agerpres.
"We are keeping an eye on the Black Sea, where, for almost a month, we have been seeing the effects of the biggest environmental disaster in recent years, following the sinking of two Russian oil tankers in the Kerch Strait. We had a working meeting with specialists from the Ministry of the Environment, Waterways and Forestry, INHGA, the Romanian Police, the Coast Guard, ABA Dobrogea-Litoral, the National Institute for Marine Research and Development, with whom we decided to continue to closely monitor things. I am following the news that has appeared, including in the Russian press, and I have found that the majority of them report a worsening of the situation regarding the fuel slicks that have reached the Krasnodar and Crimea regions. Due to the pollution of the Black Sea water, there are hundreds of dead birds, probably over 1,000, dozens of dead dolphins, many kilometres of beach affected by pollution of about 9,000 tonnes of M100, a product specific to the former Soviet Union," Fechet said.
According to him, the spilled substance is not oil, but a heavy petroleum product, called mazut.
"I am also worried about the nature of this spilled substance, which seems to be not oil, but mazut, a heavy petroleum product, of low quality. It is constantly released from sunken ships and brought ashore, changing its behavior depending on the outside temperature, and probably depending on the temperature of the Black Sea. Although the risk is low to face serious adverse effects following the accident in the Kerch Strait, we continue to monitor satellite images and follow oceanographic forecasts in order to be prepared in case the currents move from the Kerch Strait area or from the Crimean area to the Romanian coast."
On December 15, 2024, two oil tankers ran aground during a storm in the Kerch Strait, between Russia and Crimea, causing massive pollution that, for now, has mainly affected the coasts of the Russian region of Krasnodar, but has also reached Crimea, especially in the large port city of Sevastopol, located about 250 km from the site of the disaster.
The two tankers contained 9,200 tonnes of "heavy fuel oil", of which at least a quarter (26%) would have ended up in the sea, according to the latest estimate of the Russian Ministry of Transport, provided last week.
Russian authorities and volunteers are carrying out a vast clean-up campaign, in which thousands of people participate, but the situation continues to cause concern, according to the AFP news agency.