An oil slick is covering an area of around 150 square miles off Oman, the country’s government said on Monday, after a vessel under sanctions and carrying Russian crude sustained damage.
The Caroline Bezengi is loaded with close to 1 million barrels of Russian oil bound for Asia and first reported difficulties on June 8 off Yemen, with two maritime security sources saying initial assessments indicated a blast had occurred onboard.
No party has taken responsibility for attacking the vessel.
In its first public disclosure of details of the environmental impact, Oman said Monday it was seeking to tackle the oil leak in its waters near the Hallaniyat Islands off the southern governorate of Dhofar.
A statement from Oman’s Environment Authority carried by the Omani state news agency said the oil slick covered about 150 square miles based on its latest analysis, which included satellite imagery.
It said the slick extends northeast of the islands toward the mainland and at its nearest point comes within an estimated seven kilometers of the shore.
Environmental group Greenpeace last week estimated the slick at around 230 square miles, citing analysis of satellite imagery.
It extends northeast of the islands and is within an estimated four miles of the coast, the authority said.
A spill of this scale requires dispersant be sprayed across the affected area by aircraft and the use of booms and other equipment to collect the oil before it reaches the shore or sinks to the seafloor, said Tony Gutierrez, professor of environmental microbiology and biotechnology at Edinburgh’s Heriot-Watt University.
“If this oil is kept offshore, the impact will be much less than if the oil reaches shallower waters and the actual coastline,” he said, citing the impact on diverse marine life such as coral, birds and fish.
“You could find oil still there years later. And that’s what happened with Exxon Valdez. Ten years down the line, there still were remnants of oil,” he said, referring to a 1989 spill in Alaska.
An analysis by Reuters of satellite imagery and shipping specialists showed the spill from the stranded 900-foot Caroline Bezengi tanker was still spreading at the end of last month, raising concern about possible environmental damage.
The cause of the damage to the vessel is unclear, and Oman did not offer any explanation.
Shipping data showed the ship was loaded with Russian crude prior to the voyage. It last transmitted a signal on public AIS tracking on June 11 off Yemen.
Russia uses aging, often poorly maintained tankers in what is referred to as its shadow fleet to circumvent Western sanctions on Russian oil exports.
The European Union and Britain have imposed sanctions on the Caroline Bezengi for what they said was involvement in carrying fuels from Russia.
