VOLGONEFT-239

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Russia may face worst ecological catastrophe of 21st century

The sunken foreship of the 'Volgoneft 239' and all of the 'Volgoneft212' are currently being examined underwater, but with no attempts yet being made to haul them to shore or extract the fuel oil left in their tanks .According to Eugene Simonov, an expert with the Ukraine War Environmental Consequences Work Group (UWEC) , the sunken parts are left untouched because Russian authorities simply do not have the appropriate equipment to extract oil from underwater reservoirs. As a result, according to Viktor Danilov-Danilyan, the head of science at the Russian Academy of Sciences, the wrecks could evolve into the worst ecological catastrophe, Russia has seen in the 21st century. On Jan. 25, the Russian government officially had declared that the emergency services had finished the ongoing oil extraction operation, but this only concerned the grounded stern of the Volgoneft 239'.

Fuel of sunken tankers belonged to Rosneft - call for parliamentary investgation

The fuel oil carried by the 'Volgoneft 212' and 'Volgoneft 239' belonged to the state-owned 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 came amid reports that the Volgoneft-class tankers have been illegally delivering fuel to vessels in Russia’s shadow fleet. The ministry's response o 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 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 the '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 3rd year. 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 report by emergency response officials in Krasnodar Krai on Jan 25. Governor Veniamin Kondratyev claimed that 1/3 of the contaminated sand will be disposed of, while the rest will be cleaned and repurposed for construction. 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 the 'Volgoneft 239' near Cape Panagia in Russia's Krasnodar Krai. However, the bow section of tanker, as well as the bow and stern sections of the 'Volgoneft 212', remained at the bottom of the Black Sea. Oil-contaminated beaches in the city of Anapa, will be restored by the summer of 2026, the Russian Minister of Natural Resources Alexander Kozlov claimed on Jan 23. On Jan 24 he 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. Report with photo: https://theins.ru/en/news/278334

Oil removal of Volgoneft 239 completed, vents on 'Volgoneft 212' plugged

The cleanup of the oil lost from the 'Volgoneft-239' has been largely completed, the Russian state marine rescue service Morspas announced on Jan 27. After the tanker broke up, the stern section drifted aground on a rocky shore off Taman. The battered hull began leaking large quantities of fuel oil. The tanker was more than 50 years old, and not designed for winter storm conditions in the Baltic Sea. It was carrying about 4,000 of tonnes of mazut. An estimated 3,700 tonnes of the cargo spilled into the marine environment, fouling beaches from Taman to Anapa. Morspas responded to the 'Volgoneft-239' with a mission to reduce the risk of further oil leaks. Using earthmoving equipment, the salvors built a berm around the entire stern section, enclosing any further petroleum releases. The berm was reinforced with jacks to protect the wreck from wintertime wave action. Before pumping off the tank contents, the salvors had to restore the tanker's cargo heating systems, which are necessary to move the sludge-like material, asmazut only begins to liquefy at about 43 degrees C. From Jany 19-25, 1,500 tons of fuel oil were pumped out of the tanker into bitumen carriers and then transferred onto 20 railway tank car. A truck platform reinforced with concrete slabs was installed on the berm next to the tanker. This supported the trucks receiving fuel oil from the vessel. Eight vehicles were involved in the round-the-clock pumping operations, and over the entire period, 87 truckloads were removed from the tanker. The remaining fuel oil that could not be unloaded by the ship's equipment was pumped out using hand pumps. Meanwhile, cleanup teams boomed off the surrounding area and used mechanical and hand removal to abate the oil. Morspas' Azov-Black Sea branch has deployed small boat teams daily to rocky, inaccessible shorelines, and reports that it has manually collected nearly two tonnes of oil-contaminated soil from hard-to-reach places. No new sources of pollution were identified. They were collecting small local areas and also finishing work in the area of Cape Panagia on cleaning the coastal strip, collecting and delivering the spent soil for disposal. Now that the fuel oil has been removed from the wreck, the salvage operation turns to wreck removal. The plan is to cut up the 'Volgoneft-239' in place and haul it away in sections. Taman's port captain has requested that the wreckage be removed by the end of March. The 'Volgoneft-212' and the remains of her cargo are still on the bottom, though vents have been plugged to prevent leakages. The fuel oil that was released into the marine environment could take up to 10 years to degrade. Report with photos: https://maritime-executive.com/article/cleanup-of-wrecked-russian-tanker-completed