site.btaBulgaria, Romania and Ukraine To Monitor for Possible Hazards to Black Sea

Environment Minister Petar Dimitrov conferred with Romania's Minister of Environment Mircea Fechet and Ukraine's Minister of Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Svitlana Grynchuk via videconference on Monday evening, said the Ministry.

The three ministers discussed the situation after an oil spill from two Russian tankers near the Kerch Strait. They agreed to share information from scientific organizations and institutions in each country on the case. In coordination, the three countries will monitor for possible hazards to the Black Sea environment and coastline.

Minister Dimitrov is in constant contact with his counterparts from Romania and Ukraine, and will inform them about the latest data from the scientific analyses and forecasts that are being made in Bulgaria.

The Environment Ministry is monitoring the situation in the Black Sea caused by the oil spill near the Kerch Strait, saying that 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. 

An estimated 3,700 tons of low-grade fuel oil had spilled into the Kerch Strait after two Russian ships were seriously damaged by stormy weather, Russian state media reported Monday. The two ships, the Volgoneft 239 and the Volgoneft 212, were transporting roughly 9,200 tons of mazut, a heavy, low-quality oil product.