site.btaNo Risk of Significant Pollution for Western Black Sea, Environment Ministry Says after Oil Spill in Kerch Strait

Bulgaria's Environment and Waters Ministry (MOEW) is monitoring the situation in the Black Sea following the oil spill in the Kerch Strait, MOEW said in a press release on Monday. Caretaker Environment Minister Petar Dimitrov is in contact with his Romanian and Ukrainian counterparts. MOEW has also requested information from Turkiye and Georgia.

On Sunday, a strong sea storm in the Kerch Strait caused an accident between two Russian oil tankers, one of which has already sunk. According to the Ministry, Russia has so far not announced the amount of oil products that were spilled into the sea, but based on the capacity of the tankers, it can be assumed that it was a spill of several thousand tons of oil products. However, according to TASS, the Russian news agency, each one of the storm-damaged oil tankers, Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239, was carrying approximately 4,300 tons of fuel (mazut).

"Some of the oil pollution that will get into the Black Sea are likely to remain circulating in eddies. There is no risk of significant oil pollution reaching the western part of the Black Sea and endangering Bulgarian territorial waters and the Bulgarian coast," the Ministry’s press release further said.

MOEW's Black Sea Basin Directorate has been carrying out regular monitoring of marine waters since the start of the war in Ukraine and the Nova Kakhovka dam incident, including for oil and petroleum products’ spills, and an emergency survey will be carried out if necessary. Scientists from the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology are assessing incoming information, including satellite imagery, and are on standby to use computer numerical models to predict the spread of oil spills, the Ministry also said.

The MOEW said it would provide updated information on the case.