Russia Wasting Millions of Tonnes of Oil From Leaking Pipes thumbnail Russia’s ageing and leaking pipelines are wasting millions of tonnes of oil a year, causing widespread environmental damage that largely goes unreported, according to Greenpeace Russia. The pressure group says the problem is getting worse as Russia battles against falling oil prices and continued Western sanctions at a time when its pipelines need urgent repairs or replacing altogether. “Oil extraction and oil spills are now synonymous in Russia,” says Evgenia Belyakova, Greenpeace Russia’s Arctic project coordinator. “Spills often happen as soon as a well is opened but most of them occur because of the bad conditions of the pipelines.” Belyakova says that across Russia’s “hundreds of thousands of miles” of oil pipelines, many segments are still in use many years after their recommended lifespan has expired. To compound the problem, Russian oil companies are not obliged to record […]