UAE-owned tanker leaks some fuel off Oman following Iranian strike

DUBAI, May 13 (Reuters) – A unit of state-owned Abu Dhabi National Oil Company said on Wednesday that one of its tankers struck by Iranian drones last week has leaked a small amount of fuel off the coast of Oman, underscoring the ecological risks stemming from the Iran war.

Tehran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz has made navigating the vital shipping corridor a precarious task. Hundreds of vessels remain trapped in the Gulf.

ADNOC Logistics & Services said it was monitoring the situation concerning its vessel, the M.V. Barakah, and was working “closely with the relevant authorities and specialist response teams.”

“The ADNOC Logistics & Services vessel Barakah remains at anchor off the coast of Oman after being impacted by two Iranian drones on May 4,” a company spokesperson said. “A small amount of what is understood to be bunker fuel was unfortunately released as a result of the incident.”

The spokesperson did not say how much fuel was believed to have leaked.

At the time of the attack, ADNOC L&S said no crew members were injured and the tanker was not carrying any cargo.

Oman’s Maritime Security Centre did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Aerial images from Copernicus’ Sentinel satellites on May 7 and 9 showed a white streak trailing from a vessel identified by TankerTrackers.com as the M.V. Barakah near Oman’s Musandam Peninsula.

“The white trail … is definitely consistent with oil and is clearly coming out of the tanker,” said Louis Goddard, co-founder of consultancy Data Desk, which focuses on climate and commodities.

The slick was no longer visible in more recent imagery, Elizabeth C. Atwood, Earth observation senior scientist at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, told Reuters.

Separately last week, satellite images showed a suspected oil spill covering dozens of square kilometres of sea near Iran’s main oil ​hub of Kharg Island. Iran’s top environmental official said on Tuesday it was likely caused by ‌a tanker dumping waste water and not a leak from oil facilities.

(Reporting by Yousef Saba in Dubai, Aaron McNicholas in London, and Catherine Cartier in Beirut; Writing by Yousef Saba; Editing by Joe Bavier)