Since the dawn of modern oil exploitation in the 19^th century, a sad but inevitable truth has rung true: accidents happen and oil spills. The ten biggest oil disasters in the oil and gas industry and gas industry in this list amount to a cumulative hydrocarbons loss of 40.8 million barrels and cost 53 lives:

6. Kolva River Oil Spill

When: September 8^th, 1994
Where: Usinsk, Komi Republic, Russian Federation
Casualties: n/a
Amount spilled: 2 million barrels (84 million gallons)

A badly corroded pipeline around the northern Russian town of Usinsk had been leaking for eight months, contained by a dike erected around the leak site. Severe weather conditions caused this dam to collapse, resulting in the millions of gallons of accumulated oil spilling across the fragile Siberian tundra and into the Kolva River, a tributary of the Pechora River that flows into the Barents Sea. 23 species of flora and fauna were affected by the disaster which polluted 186 km² of grass and marshlands.

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