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Oman said Monday it was working to contain an oil spill off its southern coast after a tanker ran aground in June inside a protected marine area, prompting environmental groups to call for urgent action.
The announcement follows an investigation by the news agency AFP, which found that the vessel had been stranded for weeks near al-Qibliyyah island after being rocked by explosions.
The Oman Environment Authority said its most recent analysis showed the spill had affected roughly 390 square kilometers of water.
The slick is concentrated around the Hallaniyat archipelago off Oman's southern coast, an area designated as a marine reserve last year to protect ecosystems that support diverse marine life, including rare sea turtles.
The environment authority said swift measures were needed to safeguard the region's biodiversity, pointing specifically to "coral reefs, turtle nesting areas, marine habitats and coastal areas of ecological importance."
The state-backed Oman News Agency quoted a transport ministry official as saying authorities were conducting aerial surveillance of the affected waters and had sent divers to assess the vessel.
The official said officials were in the early stages of drafting a plan to transfer the oil cargo off the ship, describing the goal as reducing "the risks arising from the incident" while ensuring navigational safety and protecting the marine environment.
The British maritime security firm Ambrey confirmed it would take part in the salvage effort. A spokesperson for the company called the situation "highly complex and fast-moving" and said Ambrey was coordinating with several stakeholders, including what it described as a leading oil spill response company.
Omani authorities have not publicly identified what caused the spill. However, the British maritime security firm Vanguard told AFP that the tanker was struck by explosions in early June while sailing off the coast of Yemen, allowing water to flood several sections of the ship.
Advocacy groups Greenpeace and PAX warned that the spill was approaching what they called an "environmental disaster," saying the tanker had been carrying roughly one million barrels of crude oil.
The organizations said the vessel is believed to belong to what is commonly referred to as Russia's "shadow fleet," a network of tankers Moscow has relied on to circumvent Western sanctions imposed on its oil exports following its invasion of Ukraine.
Analysts have long noted that vessels in this fleet tend to be older ships with murky ownership structures, and that questions over their maintenance, insurance and safety standards have raised the risk of accidents at sea.
The incident adds to a string of tanker disruptions across the Gulf region in recent months, a period marked by exchanges of fire between the United States and Iran and allied proxy forces.
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