Larisa Kozovaya16:04, 25.01.25

The previous tanker accident in this area in 2002 caused damage of 4 billion euros.

A Russian tanker carrying 100,000 tons of crude oil has broken down in the Bay of Biscay, not far from France . The UNITY vessel, which flies the Russian flag, is likely to be forced to return to Russia. This was reported by Andrey Klimenko, head of the Institute of Black Sea Strategic Studies.

According to him, on January 23 the ship stopped moving in conditions of a strong storm. Probably now UNITY has returned home. In particular, according to Klimenko, instead of the Indian port of destination (MANGALORE), Primorsk of the Leningrad Region (RF) is now indicated – the “point” from which the ship left with cargo on January 16.

It is reported that the tanker was recently spotted off the port of Brest (France) – 49 nautical miles (90.75 km) to the west. UNITY was traveling at a speed of 11.85 km/h – about 2 times slower than usual.

It is also noted that the vessel was built in 2009. The length of the tanker is 245.07 m, width – 42 m. It was purchased relatively recently (in September 2024) by the Russian company ARGO TANKER GROUP LLC, whose office is located in Moscow.

“The tanker’s home port is St. Petersburg. It is included in the “gray list” of Tokyo MOU (Tokyo International Memorandum of State Port Control Authorities) as having claims to its technical condition,” Klimenko said.

The specialist adds that there has already been a major accident in the said sea area involving the crude oil tanker PRESTIGE, which occurred on November 19, 2002, 200 km from the coast of Spain. That tanker had about 80,000 tons of crude oil on board. While passing the Bay of Biscay on November 13, 2002, the vessel encountered a severe storm off the coast of Galicia, as a result of which a 35-meter-long crack formed in the hull. About a week later, the tanker split into two parts and sank 210 km from the coast of Galicia. The oil slick stretched for thousands of kilometers off the coastline, thereby causing enormous damage to all marine and coastal fauna, as well as the local fishing industry.

“The oil spill was the largest environmental disaster in the history of Spain and Western Europe. As a result of the disaster, thousands of kilometers of the Atlantic coast of Europe were affected, 300,000 volunteers from all over Europe worked to eliminate the consequences of the accident. The total losses from the disaster are estimated at €4 billion,” Klimenko recalled.

Let us recall that at the end of December 2024, the tanker Cordelia Moon with Russian oil broke down in the Bosphorus Strait . It was a vessel from the so-called “shadow fleet” transporting oil from the ports of the Black and Baltic Seas since 2022. The tanker was heading from the Turkish port of Yalova to Novorossiysk.

Before that, on December 15, two Russian tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, were wrecked in the Kerch Strait . According to some reports, they split and one of them sank. The accident caused a spill of oil products, pollution was recorded on the coasts of Anapa in the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation and the Kerch Peninsula, as well as Odessa Oblast. As a result, waterfowl, mammals, etc. are dying.

(C)UNIAN 2025