Huge oil tanker at risk of leaking in Red Sea after Houthi attack

If the ship isn’t salvaged, it risks leaking four times as much oil as during the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil-tanker spill in Alaska and could become the fifth largest oil spill of all time.

An oil tanker loaded with roughly a million barrels of crude was on fire and in danger of leaking after it was attacked by Houthi rebels while crossing through the Red Sea.

The 900-foot Sounion was hit over the weekend, part of a campaign by the Yemen-based group to target vessels passing through the Suez Canal. The crew was evacuated from the ship, which is now anchored in a busy maritime channel.

The Suezmax tanker – the largest size that can transit the canal when laden – had taken on cargo in Iraq, and its final destination was Europe, brokers said. It is one of dozens of commercial ships that risk traversing the Suez route each day despite ongoing threats from the Houthis.

The extent of the damage to the vessel isn’t known because efforts by salvage teams to reach it have been stymied by the Houthis, according to US and United Nations officials.

“Sounion now sits immobilised in the Red Sea, where it is on fire and appears to be leaking oil, presenting both a navigational hazard and a potential environmental catastrophe,” Gen. Pat Ryder, a Pentagon spokesman, said late Tuesday.

The vessel is operated by Athens-based owner Delta Tankers, which owns around 50 tankers. The company said in an email to The Wall Street Journal that it was doing everything it could to move the vessel and cargo, but declined further comment, citing security reasons.

An accident risks leaking four times as much oil as during the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil-tanker spill in Alaska and could become the fifth largest oil spill of all time, according to the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation.

An accident risks leaking four times as much oil as during the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil-tanker spill in Alaska.

The International Maritime Organization, a U.N. body regulating global shipping, called for urgent action to salvage the ship. “There is widespread concern about the damage such a spill would cause within the region,” IMO Secretary-General Arsenio Dominguez said in a statement.

People involved in the salvage said they are looking at whether the U.N. could deploy another tanker that would siphon the oil from the stricken ship’s tanks, as happened last year when more than a million barrels of crude were transferred from the FSO Safer, an abandoned tanker, to another tanker in the Red Sea.

“Time is running short,” a senior U.N. official involved in the matter said. “A ship to ship transfer is probably the best scenario, but we need security guarantees for such an operation.” The FSO Safer was abandoned off Yemen after a civil war broke out in the country in 2015. The U.N. issued a report that said a spill from that tanker would have devastated fishing communities where more than 500,000 people make their living and that desalination plants on the Red Sea could shut down, cutting off fresh water supply for millions. The total cost for the clean-up was estimated at $20 billion.

Transits of ships across the Red Sea and the Suez Canal have more than halved since the Houthis started attacking commercial vessels last November. Many shipowners and charterers are diverting their vessels around the Cape of Good Hope, adding an extra two weeks of sailing time.

But dozens of mainly Greek and Saudi owned tankers continue to cross, along with those from the so-called dark fleet that are laden with sanctioned Russian oil.

Ship-tracking data show at least 110 ships sailing through the Red Sea on Wednesday.

More than 30 ships have been struck by missiles, and dozens more have been attacked by drones or live fire since the start of the year by the Houthis, who are protesting against Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

Dow Jones