Finland oil spill defences target shadow fleet risk

Finland is installing permanent oil-spill defences on islands in the Gulf of Finland as officials warn of risks from Russian oil shipments and attacks on Russian oil ports.

Workers drilled special bolts into cliffs off the city of Kotka, less than 100 kilometres from the Russian border. The bolts will create permanent attachment points for oil containment booms, which can be installed if a spill occurs to help keep oil away from the shoreline and sensitive ecosystems.

The John Nurminen Foundation is running the project with Finnish authorities. Ulla Rosenstrom, the foundation's marine environment director, said the aim was to save time, money and nature.

The narrow, shallow Gulf of Finland is a key route for Russian oil exports, which have continued despite Western sanctions after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russia's use of unregulated and often ageing “shadow fleet” vessels to avoid sanctions has raised fears of an oil spill in the region.

Jukka-Pekka Lumilahti, director of rescue services at the Gulf of Finland Coastguard and head of maritime environmental protection in the Kotka district, said the risk of an oil spill accident was “very high at the moment”. He said between five and 10 large crude oil tankers move through the area each day, each carrying around 100,000 cubic metres of crude oil.

Lumilahti said recent Ukrainian drone attacks on the Russian oil ports of Primorsk and Ust-Luga had further increased the risk of “a big oil catastrophe”. Rosenstrom said a major spill could have serious effects on seabirds and underwater species such as bladderwrack seaweed.

Workers will install 350 bolts for containment booms in the east of the gulf. Rosenstrom said the plan was eventually to cover all of Finland's southern coast.