Oil leakage in Siberia

Two East Siberia – Pacific Ocean leakages in the course of one month are too much. Anxious is intensive. Here is what the Vladivostok RIA Novosti affiliate informs:

“An unknown amount of oil leaked from the East-Siberia – Pacific Ocean (ESPO) oil pipeline, launched about a month ago, a source in the regional emergencies service said on Thursday.”

“The leak occurred late on Wednesday, near the final point of the pipeline, the town of Skovorodino in the Amur Region. “The amount of leaked oil and the area of pollution are being established,” the source said.”

“He added that the leak poses no serious threat to the environment as snow and temperatures below -30 degrees Celsius (-22 degrees Fahrenheit) prevent soil pollution. Work to clean contaminated snow is already underway.”

“The pipeline was apparently damaged during construction work. Transneft, the pipeline’s operator, was not immediately available for comment.”

“The ESPO project is designed to pump up to 1.6 million barrels (220,000 tons) of crude per day from Siberia to Russia’s Far East and then on to China and the Asia-Pacific region. The first leg of the pipeline was launched by the Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on December 28, 2009.”

“On January 20, about 450 cubic meters of oil leaked from the pipeline in Sibria’s Yakutia during maintenance works, polluting the area of over 20,000 square meters (over 215,000 square feet).”