Ireland says oil slick thinning out

DUBLIN (Reuters) - An oil spill off Ireland's coast that occurred near Russian warships is thinning out as it spreads eastwards toward Britain, the Irish Department of Transport said Tuesday.

The department halved an earlier estimate of the size of the spill to 522 tons and said it was naturally reducing as it moves east. It is currently 39 miles off Ireland's southwestern coast.

Irish, British and Russian warships were on the scene.

"It's possible some of it may turn up on our southeast coast," Irish Coast Guard Director Chris Reynolds said.

"If the oil stays on the surface as expected, the Welsh coast will get quite a bit of it as well. A lot depends on the weather," Reynolds told public radio RTE.

Interfax news agency quoted the Russian armed forces head of general staff, Nikolai Makarov, as saying Tuesday that no large leak of fuel occurred during a refueling operation between Russian ships in the area.

Earlier, a Russian navy spokesman said ships did refuel in the area but there were no accidents on board involving pipelines or fuel tanks.

Ireland said the spill was spotted Saturday 50 miles south of Fastnet lighthouse, Ireland's most southwesterly point. It initially spread over an area measuring 4.5 km by 5 km (2.8 miles by 3.1 miles).

The transport ministry said it would try to recover the oil from the water's surface but did not expect much success.

(Additional reporting by Conor Sweeney in Moscow; Editing by Louise Ireland and Angus MacSwan)