A major oil spill occurred north of Berlin, Germany, on Wednesday following an accident affecting a pipeline connecting a major oil refinery to the Baltic Sea port of Rostock, state authorities reported.
Oil Spill in Brandenburg
A spokesman for Brandenburg’s Environment Ministry said, “An accident occurred on the PCK pipeline near Gramzow/Zehnebeck, resulting in a large oil spill.” Emergency services are currently on site, but no information is available regarding the cause or the extent of the damage.
The fire department estimated that approximately 200,000 liters (about 52,835 gallons) of oil escaped from the pipeline at a pumping station in Gramzow. This volume of liquid would fill slightly less than one-tenth of an Olympic swimming pool.
Alexander Trenn of the Schwedt fire department stated the leak initially reached a pressure of around 20 bar (roughly 290 psi), causing a fountain of oil several meters high.
Specialist machinery is being used to remove the spilled oil, and clean-up operations are expected to continue into Thursday morning. Around 100 fire department officers and 25 company employees are working on site, according to Trenn.
The PCK refinery, located near the border to Poland in Schwedt, can process 11.5 million metric tons of oil annually, making it one of the largest crude oil processing sites in Germany.
A PCK spokeswoman indicated that “deliberate external influence” such as sabotage could be ruled out, according to the AFP news agency.
As of 7:45 p.m. local time (1845 UTC/GMT), local public broadcaster rbb reported that the leak was largely contained, though some oil continued to escape.
Pipelines connect the refinery to the port of Rostock to the northwest. Gramzow is situated slightly northwest of Schwedt, near a large nature reserve north of Berlin, with the refinery also adjacent to another national park.
The areas between Berlin and the Polish border are heavily forested and include sections of the Oder River, which forms much of the border.
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