00:00This oil slick couldn't have come probably at a worse time. We're seeing the wider escalations in
00:04the region, the continuous closure of the Strait of Hormuz. But if we want to talk about the risks
00:10of a spill like this, can you just walk us through what they could be for the environment
00:14and then the costs generally? Good morning, Abir. Very nice to be with you. I really much
00:22enjoyed what the wrong way was saying about the shuttle service in the Strait of Hormuz,
00:26but our topic is the Caroline Bezenghi. The Caroline Bezenghi is a Suez Max tanker that
00:32loaded in Novoritsysk in Russia, 800,000 barrels of Russian crude, which were to be delivered
00:41to Sika in India. On the 6th of June, 26, she sent out of distress while she was sailing
00:49at the Gulf of Aden that she was stricken by something. The crew abandoned the vessel
00:55and the vessel drifted to the Omani shores. As the imagery is showing, she is grounded
01:04near an island of Oman, about 140 nautical miles northeast of Salalah. And she is spilling
01:14a tremendous amount of crude oil into the Arabian Sea that is expanding in an area estimated
01:20from 400 to 1,000 square kilometers. It's devastating, not just for the environment, but also for the
01:31livelihood of all the fishermen in the region. So does it therefore change, I mean, this spell,
01:39and again, you're looking at those videos, Dimitris, does it change the way we look at risk premiums
01:44on top of what is already happening in the region?
01:49That's a very good question, Abir, because this vessel has been struck by a war that is very far
01:58away from the region. These are not the Houthis. These are not the Iranians. This is nobody that
02:04operates in the region. Everything points to Ukrainian sabotage and special operators basically conducting
02:13this operation. So I don't think it applies additional risk to the area, which is already high risk.
02:22But it shows how a war very far away can have implications in a totally different part of the world.
02:32So Dimitris, just on the cost of all of this, if you were to give an approximation,
02:38what would the cost of such a cleanup be around if you were to just look at what is happening
02:45and you were to estimate the cost of the cleanup of this spill?
02:52Without looking at the long-term consequences of the soil spill, and if we're just looking at the
02:58salvage operation, then we're definitely estimating from $200 million all the way up to a significant
03:06higher amount of around $500 million.
03:11So with that number, do you think that looking at this, we're underestimating the environmental risk
03:17of what is happening, especially because everyone's really concerned with everything else that's
03:23happening in the region when it comes to the war and the closures that we're seeing across major waterways?
03:34The concern is not just environmental, as we said, it's social economic as well. I mean,
03:39there are coastal communities that are dependent on fisheries, on the water, desalination plants,
03:44all these will be affected in the short term. The long-term consequences are, we can't really
03:51estimate, we don't know. But looking at incidents in other parts of the world, historically,
03:57the long-term consequences are significant and carry out for years to come.
04:04And Demetrius, just finally, just pivoting a little bit to what we're seeing in the region and the war,
04:11the Strait of Hormuz has effectively been shut since late February. We've obviously been seeing
04:18movements with ships trying to go dark or trying to make their way through the Strait of Hormuz
04:22and the Red Sea. But what do you think it would take for ship owners to start avoiding the Strait
04:29of Hormuz altogether?
04:34Well, I think that they're already avoiding the Strait of Hormuz. There's very little will and
04:40confidence in international vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz. And the reporting by your
04:47colleague previously was basically around the way that the oil producing nations inside the Persian
04:54Gulf have found to export those barrels. These shuttles that we're talking about in the Strait of
05:00Hormuz are taking a huge risk. And we see that ADNOC-connected vessels are continuously being
05:09targeted by the Iranians and many of them being hit. We have, I think, 17 vessels so far. So
05:17this shuttle service is significant. It does take away some of the pressure.
05:24But those vessels going dark, and even in coordination with CENTCOM, which provides guidance
05:31guidance and support, not escorts, still run a huge risk. Going dark doesn't mean that you're invisible.
05:38So
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