From the Gulf War to today, here's how oil spills have left a toxic legacy in the waters of the Arabian Gulf

The turquoise waters of the Arabian Gulf, a vital artery of global energy and a cradle of unique marine life, bear a heavy, recurring burden, and the recent collision of two oil tankers off the UAE coast last month serves as a stark reminder of this persistent threat.

“Oil spills can cause long-term environmental damage lasting decades, with recovery potentially taking 15 years or more,” Abdul Rahman Al Mulla, a veteran oil engineer, told The New Arab.

The severity and nature of the impact depend critically on several key factors: the size of the spill, its location, prevailing weather conditions, and the type of oil involved, Al-Mulla explained.

The Arabian Gulf’s modern history is inextricably linked to oil, and so is its history of environmental contamination. We examine more:

Black tides

The largest oil spill in history occurred during the 1991 Gulf War when retreating Iraqi forces released oil into the Gulf after occupying Kuwait.

A total of 11 million barrels of crude oil were deliberately dumped into the Gulf waters, according to a report by Stanford University in 2018. For the next three months, oil continued to spill into the Gulf at a rate of up to 6,000 barrels a day.

Spanning 65 km of coastline (Kuwait and Northern Saudi Arabia) and contaminating 49 square km of Kuwaiti desert, the resulting oil slick caused significant environmental damage, as stated in a report by researchers Christopher Joyner and James Kirkhope in 1992.

Also, during the Iran-Iraq War in 1983, two major oil spills occurred at Iran's Nowruz Oil Field. The first spill (Feb-Sep 1983), caused by a tanker collision and subsequent Iraqi attack, released an estimated 330,000 barrels at 1,500 barrels per day.

The second spill (Mar 1983 - May 1985), caused by an Iraqi helicopter rocket attack, released approximately 733,000 barrels, starting at 5,000 barrels per day and slowing to 1,500 barrels per day for two years, according to an incident report by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

The total amount of oil spilt from the two main incidents was around 1,063,000 barrels.

A 2017 study highlighted in the Environmental Review by the global specialist consultancy company AESG noted over 40 significant spills recorded in the Gulf between 1965 and 2017, with many smaller ones going unreported.

Effects lasting for generations

Multiple cleanup measures are employed to respond to spills, according to Al Mulla, the oil engineer.

These include mainly deploying containment booms as floating barriers to prevent spread, using skimmers to remove oil from the water surface, applying dispersants to break oil into droplets for biodegradation, and conducting in-situ burning for controlled removal of oil slicks, among others.

Cleanup operations face significant challenges. Weather conditions can delay or hinder response activities, which has been aggravated by climate change, Al Mulla added.

The properties of the oil itself, particularly its viscosity and composition, directly affect the suitability and effectiveness of different response methods. Furthermore, the environmental sensitivity of the affected area necessitates adapting cleanup methods to the specific ecosystem to avoid causing further damage.

However, despite the cleanup operations, “Oil spills inflict severe and multifaceted environmental damage across marine and coastal ecosystems,” Ismail Abdallah, a research assistant specialising in Energy and sustainable development and environmental health at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies and Arab Center for Research, told The New Arab.

Marine life suffers acutely through direct mortality; fish kills, bird deaths, and marine mammal distress are common as oil physically suffocates organisms, poisons them through ingestion, and disrupts vital behaviours like feeding and migration, he added.

Coral reefs, particularly vulnerable in shallow waters like the Gulf, face smothering, bleaching, and reproductive failure as oil coats surfaces.

Coastal habitats, including critical mangroves, seagrass beds, and mudflats, are highly susceptible. Oil penetrates sediments, smothering and killing benthic organisms (bottom-dwelling life forms) and disrupting the complex food webs that support these areas. This disruption extends throughout the food chain via bioaccumulation, Abdallah explained.

The consequences of human activities are also significant.

“Fisheries experience stock declines, leading to fishing bans, substantial economic losses for communities, and potential long-term damage threatening livelihoods and regional food security,” Abdallah said.

"Coastal tourism and beaches are severely impacted; shorelines coated in oil suffer reputational damage and loss of income, with affected sites potentially unusable for months or years during cleanup efforts. Public health faces risks from toxic volatile organic compounds released into the air, causing respiratory problems, and from potential long-term contamination of seafood."

Biodiversity loss is a critical concern. Rare and sensitive species, such as hawksbill turtles and dugongs, are facing potentially irreversible population declines.

Furthermore, damage to vital coastal habitats, such as mangroves and seagrass, reduces their capacity to absorb CO₂, disrupting natural carbon sinks and exacerbating regional climate impacts, the researcher said.

“The use of chemical dispersants, while making surface oil 'disappear,' presents its own risks by potentially increasing the overall toxicity of the spill and causing specific harm to sensitive early life stages like larvae, plankton, and coral.”

Borders do not contain oil spills, Abdallah concluded. Oil can drift across waters to neighbouring nations, and recovery times vary dramatically, ranging from months to decades, depending heavily on the spill's size, depth, soil type, and the specific habitats affected. Notably, slow-growing ecosystems, such as coral reefs and mangroves, take the longest to recover.

This article is published in collaboration with Egab