LITHUANIA BOTHERED WITH RUSSIAN OIL WELL PROXIMITY TO COURLAND SPIT

On Tuesday the Lukoil-Kaliningradmorneft subsidiary of the Russian Lukoil concern will put into operation the entire technological chain, beginning from the production of oil at the D-6 field on the Baltic shelf near Lithuania, the administration of the Kaliningrad region has said. Lithuania will one more time ask Russia to provide the results of independent examination on the impact of the oil well on the environment and information on the exact time of putting into operation of the well, lying adjacent to the Lithuanian national park Courland Spit. It is listed among the UNESCO world heritage and Lithuania is concerned over possible oil leaks, threatening with an irreparable damage to the unique ecological system. In the interview to the National Radio Alexandras Spruogis, secretary of the Environmental Protection Ministry, said that Russia has not carried out an independent examination of the well's impact on the environment. The ministerial spokesman said that Russia has been obliged before February to conduct the examination with the inclusion of international experts in the assessment commission. If not, the Courland Spit will be automatically listed as an endangered global object. Lithuania and Russia included the Courland Spit in the UNESCO list in 2000. Discovered in 1983, the D-6 oil field is the largest on the sea shelf on the coast of the Kaliningrad region. By preliminary information, it can annually yield about 600,000 tons of oil. The well is located 23 kilometers away from the Courland Spit and five kilometers off Russia's sea border with Lithuania. Inspecting the D-6 service forms and records last November, UNESCO experts found its operation being a danger to the environmental security of the Courland Spit national park.