OREANDA-NEWS. LUKOIL held an international integrated exercise on tanker incident response in vicinity of OAO RPK-Vysotsk LUKOIL-II oil terminal (Leningrad region).

Representatives of the Federal Agency of Marine and River Transport, State Maritime Administration of Russia, the Northwestern Regional Center of the EMERCOM of Russia (the Ministry for Civil Defense and Disaster Relief), Federal Service for Supervision of Natural Resource Usage, as well as special Finnish vessels Нylje and Seili attended the exercise. Representatives of public organizations were present, the event was covered by mass media.

The goal of the exercise is to improve cooperation between the state bodies, operating oil companies and Finnish rescue service of in the Vyborg Gulf during tanker incident and oil spill response in compliance with the Regional Emergency Oil Spill Containment and Response Plan in the Russian sector of the Baltic Sea.

According to the exercise scenario, a tanker loaded with fuel oil crashed into a fishing vessel and had a hull damage above the waterline in the water area of OAO RPK-Vysotsk LUKOIL-II. The crash caused fire and a petroleum product spill of about 1,100 tons.

To extinguish fire, a harbor tug and response multipurpose rescue ship equipped with outside firefighting systems were sent to the tanker. After the fire had been brought under control, casualties were taken to the mobile medical station by a helicopter and a speedboat. A barge for gathering the spilled fuel oil was moored at the side of the crashed tanker and a slick bar was set.


Collected oily mixture was taken to OAO RPK-Vysotsk LUKOIL-II, an onshore reception center, from which it was delivered by a special water craft to Ekomar, a tanker, which in accordance with the Spill Response Plan headed for Saint-Petersburg port to be delivered at the reception center.


The oil spill was monitored from a helicopter and an Environmental Control vessel.

Meanwhile, according to the exercise, when the wind changed it caused a pollution threat of part of the coastline near the Kislitsin bay. Therefore, to prevent coastline pollution slick bars were set by a motor boat. At the coastline RPK-Vysotsk LUKOIL-II, an emergency and reconstruction force, and subdivisions of North-Western Regional Center of Russian Federation Ministry of Civil Defence and Emergency Response operated. They installed shore isolating bars, spread oil gathering systems and installed tanks for temporary storage of collected petroleum products. At the shore front catamarans equipped with oil gathering systems were on stand-by.

As a result, prompt and accurate steps taken by RPK-Vysotsk LUKOIL-II employees and government experts, the damage caused by the tanker crash was eliminated before time, all spilled petroleum products were collected, thereby preventing coastline pollution.

Anatoly Barkov, Vice-President of OAO LUKOIL, summarized the results of the command and staff training, saying, ‘Our Company always viewed industrial and environmental safety as our top priority. When RPK-Vysotsk LUKOIL-II was constructed, unprecedented environmental measures were taken, the most advanced technologies and equipment were used, which help minimize risk of air, land and water pollution. Notwithstanding its technical equipment and highest level of environmental protection facilities, our terminal is one of the most environmentally safe ports in the world, we plan to continue improving environmental measures within our responsibility.

RPK-Vysotsk LUKOIL-II is distanced away from any community, which exceeds normative sanitary protection zone, providing reliable security of the population. All tankers entering the terminal must have a double hull (of the side and bottom), isolated systems for ballast water and cargo, cutting-edge navigation facilities with electronic navigation charts. RPK-LUKOIL-II receives vessels equipped with the gas return system, which helps recover petroleum products vapor when tankers are loaded. There is a system of laser vessel mooring, which ensures perfect precision of vessel movement in the terminal. Up-to-date navigation facilities help RPK join the Global Marine Distress and Safety System. Technological fleet consists of 5 vessels (including pollution control ships), 25 hot skimmers (facilities for collection of petroleum products) and is equipped with slick bars. One of the skimmers has a remote control, which helps use it at a distance of up to 40 metres from an oil-gathering barge. In the water area of the terminal a tug-boat is always on duty. Petroleum products tanks are constructed based on a ‘shell-in-shell’ concept. Reservoir tanks have double walls preventing any leakage. Discharge railroad overpasses are built in such a manner that accidental leakage of petroleum products into soil is virtually impossible. The terminal is equipped with state-of-the-art systems for wastewater treatment. Fire prevention includes reservoir watering systems, foam fire fighting units and water screens at waterfront structures.