DUBAI, Nov 12 (Reuters) – Oman’s National Emergency Management Committee discussed on Thursday the latest developments in handling the grounding of an oil tanker off Al Qibliyah Island and the progress of operations to deal with its cargo.
The meeting also reviewed emergency incidents in territorial waters off Oman’s Musandam Governorate, which overlooks the Strait of Hormuz, and the monitoring of any environmental pollution.
Oman did not identify the tanker or how and when it ran aground.
Oil spills resulting from attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, which carried nearly one-fifth of the world’s crude before the war, have been threatening UAE and Omani coasts, underscoring the environmental risks of the US-Israeli war on Iran.
Authorities in the UAE had closed beaches, prompted by an oil spill from a tanker damaged in a suspected attack in the Gulf last month, before reopening them on Thursday.
In August, Oman said it was tackling an oil leak near the Hallaniyat Islands, which includes Al Qibliyah, after the oil tanker Caroline Bezengi leaked off its coast after an attack.
Shipping through the Strait of Hormuz remains a sticking point in the negotiations between Washington and Tehran aimed at ending the nearly nine-month-long war that has disrupted global energy supplies and caused an economic crisis.
(Reporting by Nayera Abdallah and Jana Choukeir; Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
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