Russian oil spills damaging impact on local wildlife and the environment

Posted by Fran G — 2 July 2013 at 12:49pm - Comments
Aerial of an oil spill in a forest near Surgut
All rights reserved. Credit: Denis Sinyakov Greenpeace
Aerial of an oil spill in a forest near Surgut. Disastrous oil spills are a daily routine at Rosneft fields near Pyt'-Yah, Khanty-Mansi region, Siberia.

Denis Sinyakov, who covered Greenpeace’s expedition to the Rosneft’s oil fields, is a Moscow-based Russian photographer, who worked as a photo editor and a staff photographer at Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

He spent a lot of time travelling between Moscow, the Russian Arctic, and former Soviet Republics.

As a freelance photographer he concentrates on stories about the environment, human rights, politics and the economy.

Greenpeace Russia is on an expedition to Rosneft’s oil fields Mamontovskoe and Yuzhno-Balyksky in the Khanty-Mansiysk district to document the consequences of their operations, which have turned thousands of hectares of forests and mires into environmental disaster zones just in a matter of years. Rosneft has received at least 23 license blocks from the Russian government for oil exploration and production on the Arctic shelf.<--break->

©Sinyakov/Greenpeace

Aerial of an oil spill in a forest near Surgut. Disastrous oil spills are a daily routine at Rosneft fields near Pyt'-Yah, Khanty-Mansi region, Siberia.

©Sinyakov/Greenpeace

Impact on local wildlife at an oil spill near Pyt-Yakh.

©Sinyakov/Greenpeace

A local woman stands close to an oil extraction field near Surgut. An oil pumping unit is visible in the background.


©Sinyakov/Greenpeace

Impact on the natural environment of the Rosneft oil extraction field, close to Pyt-Yakh.

Since May 22 an oil accident has contaminted the Kolva River in Usinsk (Komi region). Local people are pictured taking an active part in cleaning the oil. It was earlier reported that the local authorities asked local residents to collect the spilled oil and offered compensation (about EUR 250 per barrel). The oil has also flowed on to contaminate the Pechora River. The oil is reported to have contaminated 200km of the Kolva River, and up to 150km of the Pechora River. ©Ivanov/Greenpeace

©Ivanov/Greenpeace

©Ivanov/Greenpeace

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