VILNIUS - Lithuanian environmental protection experts have urged Russia to suspend oil extraction from the D-6 oil deposit until the two countries have signed an agreement on accident prevention and possible damage compensation.
D-6 has caused much heated debate, as the deposit is located only 23 kilometers away from the Curonian Spit, a UNESCO World Heritage site.
French Senator Daniel Goulet, a member of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) who is responsible for compiling a report on the deposit, has suggested proclaiming a moratorium on D-6 exploitation.
"Things happening near Lithuania's territorial waters in the Baltic Sea today look like well-organized activities that, without doubt, require a moratorium," Jonas Cekuolis, head of the Parliament's PACE delegation, said in agreement with Goulet.
According to PACE member Algirdas Sysas, Russian parliamentarians and representatives of LUKoil, the Russian oil company exploiting the D-6 deposit, assured assembly members that drilling would not endanger Lithuanian waters.
They defended their argument with a satellite picture that showed the deposit, with a surrounding radius area of 100-kilometers, without a trace of oil contamination.
Russian representatives compared the photograph with pictures of polluted areas found near Gdansk, Stockholm and the Baltic Sea's Bornholm Island.
Sysas emphasized that Russia had purportedly signed all necessary documents regulating possible environmental damage. The information, however, was misleading, he said, since Russia had not yet signed any international agreements on behalf of D-6.
Lithuania is still planning to call for an environmental study of D-6, and is demanding that bilateral agreements on prevention and elimination of marine pollution, compensation of damages and the joint-action plan for the elimination of possible accidents are signed.
UNESCO has set Feb. 1, 2005 as the deadline for Russia and Lithuania to come to an agreement on D-6. If the countries fail to fulfill the requirements on time, the Curonian Spit will automatically be enlisted in the UNESCO World Heritage list of endangered sites. Responding to Lithuania's request earlier this year, the UNESCO World Heritage committee issued the ruling in July during a session in China.
It would be the second time in history that UNESCO has had to enlist a World Heritage Site on its endangered list, which now only includes the Galapagos Islands. If enlisted, the Curonian Spit would constantly be under the investigation of environmental inspectors.
"It is a matter of honor and prestige for both Lithuania and Russia to secure this object of nature," said Sysas.
According to Cekuolis, who also participated in the Assembly's hearing, the "international law is on our side."
Russia is a member of the Helsinki Convention, which compels countries to protect the marine nature of the Baltic Sea. Following ratification of the document, a state is required to inform the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) and fellow convention countries about any action in the area that could possibly affect the marine environment. In violation of the convention, Russia did not follow this procedure when it began to drill at D-6.
Cekuolis also stressed that hydro-meteorological conditions in the Baltic Sea raise grounded concerns over an environmental threat. Statistically, about 88 days a year Baltic Sea winds are stronger than 15 meters per second, and approximately every fourth day, the wave height exceeds two meters. Under such conditions, oil collection in the water would be ineffective.
In the case of a calamity, oil would reach Lithuania's territorial waters in just a few hours, and therefore a local accident-elimination plan could not be effectively implemented. As a result, the oil deposit requires joint environmental protection forces.
"Russian representatives declared that, even during the earthquake earlier this summer, nothing had happened. This, however, does not resolve worries because pool exploitation was in a milder and calmer period of the year. We still have not seen the winter," Cekuolis said.
Discovered in 1983, D-6 is the largest known oil deposit in the Kaliningrad water shelf. It is located just five kilometers from Lithuania's marine borderline.
LUKoil started oil drilling at the oil exploitation platform on Mar. 2 of this year, and the first barrels were obtained on Jun. 23. The Russian oil company intends to employ four drills this year, and bring their total to 27 drills by 2008.
