Oil slick off Lithuanian coast

VILNIUS -- About 200-400 kilos of crude oil spilled into the Baltic Sea at the Butinge crude oil terminal belonging to Mazeikiu Nafta (Mazeikiai Oil) on the night of Jan. 30, the Lithuanian Environment Ministry has confirmed.

The oil spill occurred during the unloading of 100,000 tons of crude shipped by the tanker 'Antarctica' sailing under the Cayman Islands flag.

Crude oil first spilled onto the deck and further on to the sea waters, the ministry said. The unloading was halted immediately and the tugboat Smith Sulavesi servicing the terminal deployed booms to contain the spill.

Environmental protection inspectors are now estimating the scale of oil spill and its damage to environment, Gediminas Markauskas, head of Accident Prevention and Management Division of State Environmental Protection Inspectorate, said in a statement.

Pollution liquidation was being coordinated by the Administration of Safe Navigation at the Transport Ministry, which notified relevant Latvian, Swedish and EU authorities about the incident.

The largest oil spill to date at the Butinge terminal occurred in November 2001 when some 59 tons of crude leaked into the sea polluting almost 5,000 square meters area.