MOSCOW - A Royal Dutch/Shell-led group working in Russia's far east has vowed to quickly clean up an oil spill in coastal waters - too small to seriously harm ecology but big enough to spark criticism from green activists.
Sakhalin Energy Investment Company, operator of the multi-billion dollar Sakhalin-2 project, has long been under pressure for not doing enough to protect rare grey whales feeding near Russia's Pacific island of Sakhalin near Japan.
Earlier this week, a dredging vessel working on an offshore pipeline project spilled about 190 tonnes of oil and diesel after it ruptured in heavy winds brought by a major typhoon.
Sakhalin Energy, keen to avoid further criticism from the greens, said it would do everything to help clean it up despite not being directly and contractually responsible for the spill.
"Sakhalin Energy is working ... to minimise the impact of this incident," it said in a statement last week.
"All the relevant authorities have been notified regarding this incident, and Sakhalin Energy is launching a full investigation into the incident as soon as practicable."
Ecologists said the spill was a tough one to deal with.
"Of course it's not one of those major spills with thousands of tonnes of oil. But because we are talking about oil products rather than crude here, the spill is more difficult to deal with because it drifts fast," said Greenpeace's Alexei Kiselyov.
Russian television quoted local officials as saying the spill had affected five km (three miles) of coastline.
The Sakhalin venture includes Japan's Mitsui & Co and Mitsubishi Corp.
The group plans to build a seabed pipeline as well an offshore platform near Sakhalin. Shell SHEL.L also plans to build a liquefied natural gas plant in one of the largest foreign investment projects in Russian history.
The group plans to spend $2 million this year to monitor the 100 or so remaining grey whales on the oil-rich shelf.
REUTERS NEWS SERVICE
