Lithuanians continue to spoil Latvian territorial waters

“The oil terminal in Butinge will be the cleanest and technically exemplary terminal on the Baltic Sea coast,” said the general director of the oil terminal almost 17 years ago. Just six months after the first oil tanker moored at the terminal, the first oil leak occurred, amounting to almost three and a half tons. Six more followed. The last one was in February of this year.

About eight million tons of oil pass through the oil terminal AB “Orlen Lietuva” in Butinge annually. At what point does economic benefit become more important than environmental cleanliness? And at what point does energy security become more important than both of the previous factors?

The scale of the leak that occurred in February of this year is still unknown. Polish energy company Orlen, which owns the terminal in Butinge, claims that the leakage amounted to 300 liters, while the Lithuanian Department of Environmental Protection (LDOS) estimated 1.8 tons. In an interview with Latvijas Avīze, representatives of LDOS stated that the volume of oil that ended up in the sea could even exceed 1.8 tons, since some of the oil could settle on the ground and also evaporate. The investigation is still ongoing.

Since the Butinge oil terminal is listed as a hazardous site, LDOS, together with other environmental and safety authorities, conducts annual inspections of the terminal. Speaking about the recent leak, the State Environmental Service (SES) notes that oil entered the territorial waters of Latvia on February 8. In samples taken at sea from the surface of the water and at a depth of five meters, in a place where an oil slick was visible on the territory of Latvia, the oil concentration was not at all high – less than 0.10 mg/l. Visually from a Lithuanian Air Force helicopter, the oil slick was visible for a short time.

“Currently, the damage caused to the Latvian environment resulting from this leak is calculated taking into account the size and color of the oil slick initially detected in the territorial waters of Latvia. The estimated amount of oil will be taken as pollution remaining in the environment, which, possibly, can subsequently be washed out onto coast,” said SSOS representative Ekaterina Dvoryaninova.