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Assimi SpillAssimi SpillOman 01/07/83 Incident Summary On January 7, 1983, a fire broke out in the engine room of the tanker Assimi. The crew abandoned ship and the Assimi was taken under tow by the tug Solano. On January 10, an explosion occurred aboard the vessel and it burned fiercely for several days as it was towed into the Arabian Sea. The tanker was towed to a point 200 miles off the coast of Oman where it sank on January 16. A second explosion occurred as the vessel was sinking which ignited the oil on the surface of the water. A slick formed above the area where the vessel sank. There was no coastal pollution resulting from the incident. Behavior of Oil Light Iranian crude oil is a medium weight product with an API gravity of 33.8 and a viscosity of 6.6 centistokes. An overflight on January 19 revealed a slick of silver sheen in the vicinity of the sinking covering 100 square miles and moving towards the northeast. Personnel on an overflight on January 22 found some fresh oil in the slick. The older oil had emulsified, and the total area of the slick was reduced. The northernmost edge of the slick was 180 miles off the coast of Pakistan. An overflight on February 4 showed that most of the oil had dispersed. Countermeasures and Mitigation The government of Oman convened a council that included representatives from the Council for Conservation of the Environment and Prevention of Pollution (CCEPP), Sultanate of Oman Navy (SON), Sultanate of Oman Air Force (SOAF), the Royal Oman Police (Marine), the Maritime Affairs Department, the Ministry of Petroleum and Minerals, and the petroleum industry. The council was to form a response strategy in the event of a release of oil. International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation Ltd. (ITOPF) and Smit International were asked to provide expertise, and representatives from those organizations arrived in Oman on January 12. International Transport Company Contractors, the salvors of the Assimi, contracted Smit International to help fight the fire. Equipment and personnel from Smit fought the fire using water and foam from their tug Smit Pioneer. On January 11, the fire was still burning, and the firefighters flooded the pump room in an attempt to keep the fire from spreading from the engine room to the cargo tanks. The government of Oman contacted the Gulf Area Oil Companies Mutual Aid Organization (GAOCMAO) to provide an aircraft with dispersant spraying capabilities. Vessels from the Sultanate of Oman Navy (SON), were equipped with booms and dispersants. Dispersants were obtained from Saudi Arabia and Dubai to supplement the stock of Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). No dispersants were applied, because the oil was observed to dissipate rapidly. The vessel began to sink while under tow by the Solano, and the Oman government ordered the salvors to tow the vessel to a point 200 miles from the coast of Oman and sink it. On January 16, the Assimi was sunk at 22°43' N, 63°58' E in 3000 meters of water. An explosion occurred as the vessel sank and a slick of burning oil formed on the surface. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) was contacted to assess the threat to environment and make recommendations to the Oman council. The council also contacted the Regional Organization for the Protection of the Marine Environment (ROPME) to provide expertise. Observers of the sinking suggested that the oil released by the breakup had burned on site. The IMO and ROPME representatives advised further overflights to determine if the tanker was still leaking oil. An overflight on January 19 revealed a slick of silver sheen covering 100 square miles and moving towards the northeast. The government of Pakistan was notified that the slick was heading towards their coast. An overflight on January 22 found fresh oil on the surface near the sinking. The older oil had emulsified, and the total area of the slick was reduced. The northernmost edge of the slick was 180 miles off the coast of Pakistan. An overflight on February 4 showed that most of the oil had dispersed. Other Special Interest Issues The Assimi originally caught fire on January 7, and attempts were made to extinguish the fire. After an explosion on January 10 the fire was burning more fiercely. The salvors of the vessel were refused passage through the Straits of Hormuz. On January 12 the tow had been let go due to fears that the fire could flash back, however, the Solano was able to reconnect the tow and pull the Assimi even further from the coast. An expert from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations arrived in Oman on January 21 to determine the risk to fisheries in the Arabian Sea. The FAO representative reported that a spill that far from the coast would not affect the fisheries. References This content has been excerped from: Oil Spill Case Histories 1967-1991: Summaries of Significant U.S. and International Spills |
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