Environmentalists are fighting Lukoil over an oil spill from a pipeline in the Komi Republic which might have done major damage to the Pechora River.

Below is an article published by Barents Observer:

Environmentalists from the Save Pechora Committee accuse Lukoil of having concealing an oil spill from the Peshnya-Zapadny Tebuk pipeline in the Komi Republic. While the environmentalists claim that oil has spilled into the Pechora River, Lukoil maintains that the spill was minor and far from reaching the river shores.

Representatives of the Lukoil-Ukhtaneftegaz, a regional subsidiary of Lukoil, say that the ruptured oil pipeline is located more than 400 meters from the river and that the oil has not reached the river. Still, as the case is attracting more attention, Lukoil appears to have started a massive clean-up operation on the site of spill, Bnkomi.ru reports.

The spill is reported to have happened in December last year on the Pashnya-Zapadny Tebuk pipeline in the Komi Republic.

The representatives of Save the Pechora Committee say Lukoil has tried to downplay the serious character of the spill. On May 1 the environmentalists discovered polluted river ice in a 200 meter long belt along the river, which they see as another evidence of the spill.

They also say that regional environmental control authorities have failed to follow up the case, despite repeated warnings from the environmentalists. According to Bnkomi.ru, no independent testing of the water and soil on the site were initiated by regional authorities. The Save the Pechora Committee addressed both the regional Emergency Situations Department, the State Nature Control Service (Rosprirodnadzor), as well as regional prosecutors, but the case was still not followed up. Only after the committee sent telegrams to the leaders of the federal Emergency Situations Ministry Sergey Shoigu, leader of the State Nature Control Service, Oleg Mitvol and General Prosecutor Yuri Chaika, the authorities took action and initiated an inspection.

Before the inspection, Lukoil started up a major clean-up operation on the site of the spill, the Bnkomi.ru reports.