A Sanctioned Ghost Tanker Is Painting Oman Black

A sanctioned tanker with 800,000 barrels of Russian crude has been leaking off Oman since June in Oman

Aryan Kumar 17 Aug 2026 ·19:41

4 min read Tanger

Satellite imagery shows the oil slick spreading from the grounded tanker Caroline Bezengi off Oman's southern coast, August 2026. Oman puts the affected area at around 400 km². Independent analysis of satellite images puts it above 2,000 km² — Satellite imagery shows the oil slick spreading from the grounded tanker Caroline Bezengi off Oman's southern coast, August 2026. Oman puts the affected area at around 400 km². Ind · FP

THE ESSENTIALS

The tanker reported trouble on 8 June. The oil reached Oman's beaches on 12 August.
Oman counts 400 square kilometres. Satellite analysts count more than 2,000.
Booms do nothing while 800,000 barrels sit inside a ship nobody will claim.
The slick grew forty times over in the first eleven days of August.
It ran aground inside a marine nature reserve, which is the only detail nobody disputes.

On 8 June, a tanker reported trouble off the coast of Yemen. On 30 June, it ran aground at an Omani island that forms part of a marine nature reserve. On 12 August, forty five days later, the oil reached the mainland. That is the timeline of the oil spill now threatening to become one of the worst anywhere in the world in years, and the most remarkable thing about it is how much of that timeline consists of nothing happening at all. The ship is the Caroline Bezengi, carrying…

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