Two Russian oil tankers carrying 29 crew members have been severely damaged in the Black Sea, causing an oil spill, Russian authorities reported.
Footage released by Russia’s Southern Transport Prosecutor’s Office showed one tanker broken in half and sinking during a heavy storm, with visible oil slicks in the water. At least one crew member has been confirmed dead. The second vessel reportedly drifted after being damaged, with some reports suggesting it later ran aground.
The incident occurred in the Kerch Strait, a strategic waterway separating Russia from Crimea, the Ukrainian territory annexed by Moscow in 2014. President Vladimir Putin has ordered Deputy Prime Minister Vitaly Savelyev to lead a working group to address the situation, while authorities investigate possible criminal negligence.
Rescue and clean-up efforts are underway, involving tugboats, helicopters, and more than 50 personnel. “Today, as a result of a storm in the Black Sea, two tankers, Volgoneft-212 and Volgoneft-239, sank,” said Russia’s federal sea and inland water transport agency, Rosmorrechflot. “The accident resulted in a spill of oil products,” the agency confirmed. The two vessels carried crews of 15 and 14 people, respectively.
Michelle Bockmann, an analyst at shipping industry journal Lloyd’s List, stated that the tankers, owned by Volgatanker, each had a carrying capacity of around 3,500 dead weight tonnes of oil. These relatively small tankers were likely used for transporting oil through Russian rivers or coastal waters. By contrast, tankers used for exporting Russian crude internationally typically have a capacity of 120,000 dead weight tonnes.
The Kerch Strait is a vital export route for Russian grain, crude oil, fuel oil, and liquefied natural gas. The extent of the oil spill and the condition of both ships remain unclear. This is not the first incident of its kind in the region; in 2007, another Volgatanker vessel, Volgoneft-139, split in half during a storm, spilling over 1,000 tonnes of oil.
Russian oil exports have been heavily sanctioned by Ukraine’s allies since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In recent years, Russia has been accused of using a “ghost fleet” of poorly maintained, uninsured tankers to evade sanctions. However, Bockmann noted that the tankers involved in this incident do not appear to be part of that fleet.
