Russia watchdog reports oil leak at TNK-BP unit - Reuters

[Eugene]

Russia watchdog reports oil leak at TNK-BP unit
Sat Mar 3, 2007 9:21am ET

MOSCOW, March 3 (Reuters) - Russia's environmental agency said on Saturday that
environmental violations at Orenburgneft, a subsidiary of Anglo-Russian oil firm TNK-BP,
had caused an oil pipeline leak on Feb. 28 which threatened water supplies. "The problem
is a pipeline accident at Orenburgneft's Krasnoyarskoye oilfield, which led to oil leaking
into Bolshoi Kinel river," Oleg Mitvol, deputy head of the agency, was quoted by the
Interfax news agency as saying.

Mitvol said pipeline traffic had been stopped and the agency was trying to estimate the
environmental damage. Local media reported earlier this week about 5 tonnes of oil
products had leaked into the river in the Orenburg region.

Operations of TNK BP's parent, BP Plc, are under intense scrutiny after a corroded transit
pipeline at its giant Prudhoe Bay oil field in Alaska ruptured last March, resulting in the
largest-ever onshore oil spill in the U.S. state.

Mitvol said worn-out machinery at Orenburgneft, which produced 120 million barrels of crude
in 2006, had caused the leak. The leak posed a danger to water supplies in the eastern
Russian region, which borders Kazakhstan.

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Full article: http://today.reuters.com/news/articleinvesting.aspx?view=CN&storyID=2007-03-03T142112Z_01_L03730485_RTRIDST_0_TNKBP-RUSSIA.XML

Related: Rosprirodnadzor uncovers environmental incident at field developed by TNK-BP subsidiary - Interfax