Jordan Times
Friday, February 6, 2004
'Aqaba oil spill under control'
By Khalid Dalal
AMMAN — Aqaba authorities said Thursday they brought “a minor oil spill incident” under control in the gulf waters during the past week.Aqaba Special Economic Zone Authority (ASEZA) Acting Chief Commissioner Emad Fakhouri told The Jordan Times that the spill occurred when a valve of an oil tanker, docked at the industrial zone of the port to store oil for local consumption, was broken.
“This resulted in few tonnes of oil, not exceeding five, leaking from the tanker to the sea,” he said.
The official stressed that the oil spill had been totally contained and that the cleanup process — which was carried out by ASEZA, the Aqaba Ports Corporation and marine pollution control authorities — had been successful.
Fakhouri said Aqaba authorities and the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources started reviewing safety procedures on the oil tanker to ensure that no such incidents take place in the future.
He emphasised that the oil spill occurred at the southern end of Jordan's gulf coastline to the Red Sea in an area far away from coral reefs and beaches used by holidaymakers and tourists.
According to Fakhouri, water samples were taken for testing following the cleanup as a precautionary measure. Results show that the oil spill was completely removed, he said.
The oil tanker in question was rented last year by the government and docked at the Port of Aqaba to store oil supplies shipped to Jordan from Arab Gulf states after regular supplies of Iraqi oil to the Kingdom were halted following the US-led war and occupation of the country.
Aqaba authorities dealt with another but larger scale incident in late 2000 when an oil spill affected nearly 10 kilometres of the coastline.