With the Baltic Sea Action Plan, the countries of the Baltic Sea have agreed to destruct oil spills in the sea by collecting it with the help of vessels specially equipped for this task. The agreement limits the use of chemicals in oil spill responce. In addition, Finland and Russia, and well as Finland and Estonia have valid mutual agreements on oil spill response. Among other things, the countries cooperate in research, provide assistance to one another and arrange joint exercises and training on oil spills response. The agreements specifically define how assistance is requested and how spill situations are handled.
The objective of oil spill response is to collect the oil on the open sea before it reaches the coast and shore. If the oil reaches the shore, it is very difficult and expensive to clean: collecting a litre of oil on a shore is ten times more expensive compared to a litre of oil collected on the sea.