Plan Bothnia

A large pine oil slick threatening the Finnish Bothnian Sea coast

A piece of Plan Bothnia planning area-relevant news:

A two km long and 600 m wide slick consisting of raw pine oil has been moving east from Söderhamn in Swedish coast of the Bothnian Sea since 20 December. The slick will likely hit the Pori coast during the coming night.

Approximately a quarter of the estimated 0.8 Million liter leak has been recovered by the Swedish authorities. It seems Finnish assistance offshore has been made difficult by the storm Dagmar, blowing with full force over the area last night.

Pine oil in the Bothnian Sea archipelago (Photo: Swedish Coast Guard)

The slick originates from a container on land within the worlds largest pine oil refinery in Sandarne, close to Söderhamn on  the Swedish coast. The facility is owned by the U.S. based Arizona Chemicals Ltd.

Pine oil is a thick destillate from pine debris like needles, twigs and cones with various industrial and household uses (e.g. pine soap). It smears e.g. birds like mineral oil and is toxic at least to smaller forms of life.

Link to information by the Söderhamn county (in Swedish)

Link to news in english (Monday 26. Dec)