Fuel oil on crashed Volgoneft tankers belonged to state-owned energy giant Rosneft, says Russian Transport Ministry

Cover photo: Fuel oil spilled from the Volgoneft-239 tanker washed up on the shore of Russia's Krasnodar Krai being cleaned up by workers. Photo: Sergei Malgavko, TASS

The fuel oil carried by the Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239 tankers, which crashed in the Black Sea on Dec. 15, 2024, belonged to the state-owned energy giant Rosneft, Russia’s Ministry of Transport has confirmed. The information came to light via the ministry’s written response to an inquiry by Alexei Kurinny, a State Duma MP from Russia’s Communist Party. This comes amid reports that Volgoneft-class tankers have been illegally delivering fuel to vessels in Russia’s “shadow fleet.”

Kurinny published the ministry's response on his Telegram channel. The document also details the insurance coverage for the sunken tankers, with a total liability limit of $29.85 million for environmental pollution and $6.7 million for wreck removal. Previously, experts cited by Forbes estimated the damage from the oil spill at 33.4 billion rubles (approximately $335 million) — a figure that encompasses solely marine pollution.

The Ministry of Transport also stated that Russian law does not define an “expired operational period” for vessels — approval for operation is granted based on inspection by the Russian Classification Society. According to a recent report by the independent investigative outlet Important Stories, at least 11 Volgoneft-class tankers were at sea in 2024 and January 2025 — in violation of restrictions indicated on their classification certificates.

Kurinny called for a parliamentary investigation into the oil spill and noted that the ministry’s response did not specify the owner of the sunken tankers.

According to a report by the Russian state-run news agency TASS, the tankers belonged to Volgatransneft CJSC (ЗАО «Волгатранснефть»). In a statement to TASS, the company attributed responsibility to Port Kavkaz in the Temryuk District of Krasnodar Krai. According to the company, the vessels were positioned in the disaster zone following port directives and were unable to relocate to a safer area due to the storm.

Volgatransneft also claimed that the stern of Volgoneft-239 was deliberately grounded by the crew to prevent fuel oil from leaking from the aft section, and to ensure the vessel’s own safety.

An investigation by Important Stories found that 80% of the fuel delivered by Volgoneft tankers to Port Kavkaz was transferred to foreign-flagged vessels known to be part of Russia’s “shadow fleet” — a collection of poorly maintained ships that help Moscow trade oil above the Western-imposed $60 price cap. The trade helps the Kremlin line its coffers with crucial revenue as the Russian invasion of Ukraine nears its third year.

Since the disaster, 1.4 tons of fuel oil have been recovered from the seafloor, and over 173 tons of oil-contaminated sand and soil have been collected from the shore, according to a Jan. 25 report by emergency response officials in Krasnodar Krai. Governor Veniamin Kondratyev claimed that one-third of the contaminated sand will be disposed of, while the rest will be cleaned and repurposed for construction.

As The Insider previously reported, Russian authorities spent $5 million to dispose of sand contaminated with fuel oil. However, there have been documented cases of officials attempting to bury bags of polluted sand instead of recycling it.

On Jan. 24, Russian Transport Minister Vitaly Savelyev reported that specialists from the Ministry of Transport had completed the removal of fuel oil from the beached stern section of Volgoneft-239 near Cape Panagia in Russia's Krasnodar Krai. However, the bow section of Volgoneft-239, as well as the bow and stern sections of Volgoneft-212, remain at the bottom of the Black Sea.

Oil-contaminated beaches in the city of Anapa, will be restored by the summer of 2026, Russian Minister of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov claimed last Thursday. Less than a day later, Kozlov promised to bring the beaches back to “standard condition” by this summer.

Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, the head of research at the Institute of Water Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences, described the Dec. 15 spill as “the most serious environmental disaster in Russia since the beginning of the 21st century.”

In late December, the independent publication Kavkaz.Realii reported that ship-to-ship oil transfers along the same route continued despite the wreck of the two Volgoneft tankers. Approaching the Kerch Strait, vessels have reportedly switched off their transponders to evade tracking.