Oman Oil Spill From Grounded Shadow Tanker Covers 390 Sq Km

A spill of this scale requires dispersant sprayed by aircraft and the use of booms and other equipment to collect the oil before it reaches the shore or sinks to the sea floor, 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 effect 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 the 1989 Alaska spill.

An analysis by Reuters of satellite imagery and shipping specialists showed the spill from the stranded 274-meter tanker was still spreading at the end of last month.

John Amos, CEO of SkyTruth, a nonprofit that uses satellite images for environmental conservation, said although the incident had been ongoing for more than two months, there had been no sign of vessel activity at the site to suggest a response to stabilize the Caroline Bezengi and remove the remaining oil cargo. "We haven't seen that on publicly available satellite imagery. We haven't seen that on satellite-collected AIS tracking data. And that's a concern," Amos said.

The Caroline Bezengi loaded at Russia's Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in April and passed through the Suez Canal at the end of May, ship-tracking data shows. Built in 2001, it is part of the so-called shadow fleet of older oil tankers used by Russia that lack Western insurance cover and sail under various flags to obscure their true ownership. It was listed on public shipping databases as flying the Cameroon flag but was among 39 vessels de-listed from Cameroon's ship registry in June.

The ship is subject to sanctions imposed by the European Union, Ukraine, the UK, Canada and Switzerland. Its registered owner is Rentoor Shipmanagement Ltd and its manager is Villar Shipmanagement Ltd, according to LSEG data. Reuters could not immediately reach those firms, which appear to be based in China.