00:27We're dealing with a damaged tank
00:29that's carrying a very substantial cargo of crude oil
00:32that's been stranded for weeks in a marine protected area
00:37in an ecologically sensitive area.
00:40And it's now leaking oil into the sea at an exponential rate.
00:54And I think it's also important to note
00:56the challenges related to this particular oil spill
00:59both because of the area where the tanker is grounded
01:03which is a very remote area surrounded by rocks
01:07which makes response more challenging
01:10but also from the kind of legal situation
01:14of the cargo of the tanker itself
01:18makes it a lot more challenging to deal with.
01:31In a normal shipping incident
01:34there would be a liability link
01:36that would go through the ship owner
01:40the PMI insurer
01:42and of course the flag state
01:47that the vessel is registered under.
01:49In the case of this tanker
01:52the three links that I've just described
01:54in this chain are either broken or missing.
01:57So the tanker doesn't have a state, a flag
02:01it's lost its Cameroon registration in late May
02:04so now the IMO lists it as having an unknown flag.
02:08The owner as well
02:09which is reportedly based in Shanghai
02:12reportedly didn't respond to the Armenian authorities
02:17requests to move the vessel
02:19and it's not clear that the vessel is insured
02:22under any recognised PNI club.
02:35So in this situation obviously it's not clear
02:38who would pay for this
02:40and it's not clear what even legal mechanism
02:43the Omani government would even be able to resort to
02:48to compel anyone to pay for this.
02:50So this complicates the situation even more
02:53and it may mean unfortunately
02:55that the cost of dealing with this pillar
02:59is going to fall on the Omani government alone
03:02which is cause for serious concern as well
03:06and cause for
03:08it requires international support in this case
03:12to enable a very quick containment and response effort.
03:15Outro
03:16You
03:16You
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