Oil tanker Caroline Bezengi threatens Oman with environmental disaster after 600 km² spill

Greenpeace and Pax warn: Tanker Caroline Bezengi threatens Oman with environmental disaster after a 600 km² oil spill off its coast.

Greenpeace and Pax have warned that the oil tanker Caroline Bezengi, carrying approximately one million barrels of Russian crude oil, threatens Oman with a regional environmental disaster, after a massive expansion of an oil spill was observed off the country’s southern coast.

The vessel had been subjected to three mysterious explosions off the coast of Yemen in June, which disabled its engines and caused water ingress, before it drifted and ran aground off Oman.

Spill expands to 600 square kilometers

Satellite images showed that the oil spill from the Caroline Bezengi had rapidly expanded to cover approximately 600 square kilometers, compared to only about 20 square kilometers in late July, with thick black crude oil patches observed reaching the southern and western shores of Oman’s Al-Qibliya Island.

Researchers have warned that continued exposure of the vessel to waves and severe monsoon winds could cause it to split apart and sink entirely, which would release the entire cargo into the sea.

تسرّب نفطي قبالة سواحل عُمان… تحذرير من “كارثة بيئية”
منطقة تضم كائنات بحرية متنوّعة والنادرةhttps://t.co/FHHBMtPNni pic.twitter.com/kTrd2prHAT

— Akhbar Al Yawm (@akhbaralyawm) August 6, 2026

Threat to a nature reserve and endangered species

According to reports, the spill is located in the heart of the Al Hallaniyat Islands Nature Reserve, which was designated as a protected area in 2025, threatening coral reefs and seagrass meadows, as well as habitats for endangered sea turtles, migratory seabird breeding sites, and rare humpback whale feeding grounds.

The pollution also directly threatens the livelihoods of local Omani fishing communities that depend on these environmentally rich waters.

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