Sanctioned tanker suspected of leaking oil near Oman, satellite images show

Satellite images showed a silvery-gray slick in a protected marine area off Oman’s coast, and experts linked the pollution to the Caroline Bezengi, a sanctioned tanker that had loaded Russian oil in Novorossiysk before its last voyage.

The ship last transmitted an AIS signal on June 11 off Yemen, deepening concern that it was moving with incomplete tracking data. Images taken from July 2 to July 13 showed the slick spreading in waters described as a bay southwest of Al-Qibliyah Island. That is the pattern maritime monitors have come to associate with the shadow fleet: vessels under sanctions pressure, limited transparency, and a reliance on satellites to catch what normal oversight misses.

Oman’s response framework gives several agencies clear roles. The spill notification points include the Pollution Control Operations Section in the Directorate General of Environmental Affairs, the Royal Navy of Oman operations centre, and the Royal Oman Police Coast Guard Division. Oman also has a Marine Pollution Control Law, issued in 1974, and a later Environmental Protection and Pollution Control Law from 2001 that form the legal backdrop for intervention, enforcement and cleanup.

The practical problem is that a sanctioned tanker can make every step harder. Authorities may have to inspect, contain or tow a vessel that may have unclear ownership, limited cooperation and a complicated legal status. That raises immediate questions about who takes command at sea, who pays for cleanup if oil reaches sensitive waters, and how liability is enforced when the ship is operating through opaque networks rather than a normal commercial chain.

The risk is not confined to one coastline. The waters off Oman sit near shipping lanes linking the Gulf, the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean, where oil can move quickly with wind and current. Even a relatively modest spill can threaten marine life, fisheries and navigation, and the Caroline Bezengi case shows how sanctions can push aging ships into the kind of hidden trade that turns a geopolitical fight into a maritime safety problem.