BBC News Online: Despatches

Tanker oil spill off Gulf coast

An Ukrainian oil tanker has been towed into port in Dubai after leaking oil onto beaches in the Gulf state. The 3,500 ton Enzhenergulyaev ran aground on rocks off the United Arab Emirates coast last Monday. As our correspondent in the Gulf, Frank Gardner reports from Dubai, the ship is the latest in a succession of leaking oil vessels which threaten the Gulf's growing tourist industry:

Strong winds and heavy seas in the Gulf last week were enough to blow the ageing Ukrainian tanker, Enzhenergulyaev, onto a rocky headland. After leaking strong-smelling oil into the shallow waters of the Gulf, it is now undergoing repairs in Dubai's Port Rashid.

As usual, with the mounting number of such leaking oil vessels, there is speculation locally as to the origin of its cargo. The UAE has recently launched a crackdown on an illicit trade in smuggled Iraqi fuel oil.

Since 1993, sanctions-busting has become big business for maritime traders up and down the Gulf.

With the unofficial complicity of Iran's coastguard, oil smugglers have been reaping huge profits by shipping fuel out of Iraq's Shatt al-Arab waterway.

But the illicit trade, which is estimated to be worth around 400m dollars a year, faced a setback two months ago.

First, Iran stopped letting the smugglers use its coastline to evade US navy patrols, then the UAE announced a ban on fuel barges after an 11,000 ton vessel leaked smuggled Iraqi oil all over some of the country's finest beaches.

Although oil remains the lifeblood of most Gulf economies, the governments here are keen to diversify into areas such as tourism. But with lucrative profits still to be made from oil smuggling, Gulf coastguards will need to intensify their efforts if the region's beaches are to remain oil-free.

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