One badly dropped anchor may be enough to pollute one of the most enclosed seas in the world. An underwater pipeline in the Caspian Sea ruptured and spilled crude oil onto the coast near Dubendi beach in Azerbaijan - another reminder of how thin the line is between the energy business and ecological catastrophe.

The pipeline is operated by the production association "Azneft", part of the state oil company SOCAR. According to the statement, the fault was detected on 21 June, after which transport through the damaged section was urgently halted "to prevent further release of hydrocarbons into the water". Divers were sent down for underwater diagnostics, and local services set up floating barriers around the beach to contain the spill before the wind and currents could spread it.

The initial assessment points to serious mechanical damage. The engineers' hypothesis is that the pipeline was hit directly by an improperly dropped ship's anchor - the investigation is now looking for which vessel did it. It sounds banal, but it is precisely banal mistakes that most often lie behind major ecological damage.

What worries is that there are no public figures. How much oil leaked, how large the spill is, what the consequences for the ecosystem are - on all of that there is official silence. And the Caspian Sea is no ordinary bay: it's an enclosed lake-sea with no outlet to the ocean, which means every drop of oil stays in the system longer. When the polluter is running the investigation into its own damage, the question that remains is one familiar in these parts too - who will really answer for it?