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Oil spill under Ukhta, Komi
Oil spilled into the stream Maly Voyvozh, a few kilometers from Ukhta. On April 15, employees of the Yareganeft oil control plant, which belongs to "Lukoil-Komi" LLC, discovered unsealing of the oil pipeline at the Yaregskoye field. After that they started eliminating the consequences of the accident. On April 16, Ukhta administration held a meeting of the commission for emergency situations.
The leakage of oil products was detected during the scheduled daily bypass of the field's territory. The reason for this is the unsealing of the oil pipeline of oil wells in oil shale No. 1. The personnel stopped wells No. 3309 and 3310 and started localization of contamination near the hydrostock of Maly Voyvozh stream. No traces of oil-containing liquid were found in the Yarega River.
An interdepartmental commission assessed the scale of pollution and got acquainted with the progress of work to eliminate the accident. According to the city administration, 33 people and 12 pieces of equipment were involved in the elimination of pollution. The employees of Yareganeft informed the control and supervisory bodies. During the meeting of the Commission for Emergency Situations, the head of Yareganeft Vladimir Mityushnikov said that forces and means for liquidating the consequences of the unsealing of the oil pipeline were sufficient and the main work would be completed till April 18.
Activist of the oldest environmental organization in Komi Save Pechora committee, Valery Torlopov, visited the site. According to him, a water gate is installed on the stream (a structure that prevents the spread of oil and collects it in a settler). Oil is pumped into a tank truck and is manually collected into tanks located downstream.
"This suggests that the hydraulic shutter does not stop all oil. Small oil formations go downstream. Frequent rows of booms are not designed to complete the collection of oil from the surface of the stream. I did not see the use of sorbents to absorb oil-containing products. And blobs of oil are floating toward the hydraulic gate along the Maly Voyvozh stream, becoming stable formations and collecting on the banks of the stream," Torlopov wrote.
According to Tatyana Filippova, director of Ukhtavodokanal, despite the fact that the oily liquid did not get into the Ukhta River, in order to completely eliminate even the theoretical possibility of getting oil products into the water intake, the water in the city will temporarily come from the underground water intake Pozhnya-El.
A similar incident occurred on April 15, 2016. The oil first fell into the Maly Voyvozh stream, and then into the Ukhta and Pechora rivers. It was necessary to temporarily stop the water intake on the Ukhta River. An emergency was declared. The Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Komi Roman Polshvedkin called the main reason for oil spill the discharge of oil from the drainage ditch that belonged to the company Yareganeft (a subsidiary of Lukoil-Komi).
On April 27, 2017 Ukhta residents noticed oily liquid in the Ukhta River again, but less than last year.
Maxim Polyakov, photo by Valery Torlopov, «7x7»