Gray Whales to Benefit from Delayed Building of Oil Rig, WWF Says

Conservationists are celebrating news that an oil platform to be built close to the habitat of endangered gray whales in Russia has been postponed for at least five years.

The Sakhalin Energy, a private energy consortium with ties to Russian, Dutch and Japanese corporations, has said the construction of its planned offshore Sakhalin-II drilling platform will be postponed until 2017, the World Wildlife Fund reported, calling the news a victory.

"Sakhalin Energy has delayed until 2017 its decision about building an additional oil platform, meaning the whales are safe at least until 2020. This gives us more time to convince the company that the project should be stopped for good," said Aleksey Kniznikov, Oil and Gas Programme Coordinator of WWF-Russia.

The WWF expressed concern for the project's impact on western north Pacific gray whales. An estimated 150 of the animals remain, the WWF said, noting the impact an oil spill could have on the dwindling whale population as well as other marine life.

Gray whales can weigh 80,000 pounds and live as long as 80 years, according to NOAA Fisheries.

"The Western North Pacific population remains highly depleted and its continued survival is questionable. This population is estimated to include fewer than 100 individuals," NOAA said in its dossier of the mammal.

The WWF said that gray whales have poor eyesight and rely on their sensitive hearing to find food. The additional noise pollution brought by the oil platform would likely hinder the whales' search for prey, the WWF said. Two other oil platforms already exist near the site of the proposed one.

"These extraordinary animals and their newborn calves must consume enough food during the summer to last them on their lengthy migration," Kniznikov said. "This place that is so critical to the whales was put at even further risk by oil and gas prospectors, but the whales have won for now."

"Unfortunately another development in the area is now cause for concern," said Kniznikov. "Exxon Neftegas Limited is planning to construct a temporary pier in the whales' habitat, which could disrupt their feeding area."