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Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Use of Natural Resources (Rosprirodnadzor), whose government remit includes environmental monitoring and pollution control, has reported a fuel oil bunker spill at the Port of Vladivostok.

Rosprirodnadzor said the amount of oil spilled is unknown but that authorities are already suggesting this is a large-scale pollution incident.

Rosprirodnadzor has installed booms around the discharge point of the fuel oil to prevent the spread of the oil slick and protect the beaches from pollution but oil has spread over a large area of Golden Horn Bay; the bay is seven kilometers long, with a width of about two kilometres. The port of Vladivostok lies at the head of the bay.

The spill reportedly occurred from vessel BBS-5 - a berth-connected ship for floating oil storage, built in 1977 and owned by OAO FESCO. Clean up efforts are said to be ongoing whilst inspectors of Rosprirodnadzor carry out an investigation into the spill of fuel. They will also be sampling the Bay area in order to calculate a claim for damages.

Image: Golden Horn Bay bridge.