Oil from a sanctioned tanker carrying Russian crude has reached Oman's coastline

Oman's Environment Authority said oil from a stricken tanker has washed onto beaches at Ras Madrakah on the mainland, roughly 200 kilometres north of where the vessel grounded, and warned that around 40 kilometres of coastline plus Masirah Island could be contaminated. Al Jazeera reported the authority's assessment that the slick sits within about seven kilometres of the shore. Euronews reported that the tanker is believed to be Russian.

The ship is the Caroline Bezengi, a Suezmax of roughly 160,000 deadweight tonnes under sanctions and identified by maritime trade publications as part of the fleet that moves Russian crude outside Western insurance and ownership structures. It loaded about one million barrels at Novorossiysk and was bound for Asia. Its crew reported trouble on 8 June after what has been described as an explosion aboard, a cause that no authority has formally attributed. The vessel ran aground on 30 June at Qabiliyah Island in the Hallaniyat Islands marine reserve, and satellite images from 5 August showed it partly submerged.

Estimates of the spill's extent differ by a factor of five. Reuters and NBC reported around 390 to 400 square kilometres in early August. Greenpeace put it near 600 square kilometres from satellite analysis. An oil-spill specialist reviewing imagery for Reuters this week estimated more than 2,000 square kilometres, a scale some experts compare to the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster. Monsoon conditions have limited access for salvage crews.

The sanctions status is not incidental to the cleanup problem. Because the vessel carried no Western protection-and-indemnity cover, there is no conventional insurer to fund salvage or compensate Oman, which leaves the Omani state absorbing the response cost while liability remains unassigned.