Russian investigators raise gravity of Novorossiysk oil spill case

The Russian Investigative Committee requalified an oil spill near Novorossiysk to pollution with a significant environment damage from an unspecified pollution, spokeswoman Yelena Markovskaya told reporters on Thursday.

"The criminal case… has been requalified as a graver crime and is investigated under Part 2, Article 252 of the Criminal Code of Russia," Markovskaya said. 

She added that the authority conducted an investigation in the offices of the Caspian Pipeline Consortium, the Prime news agency reported.

The spill happened on August 7 while oil was pumped to Greek oil tanker Minerva Symphony by the first extended loading unit of Caspian Pipeline Consortium. The company said then that only 12 cubic meters of oil were spilled, and that the spill area is only 200 square meters.