The Nowruz Oil Spill in the Arabian Gulf: Case Study of Saudi Arabia

The Arabian Gulf has suffered from hundreds of oil spills, some of them reported but most unreported. In many cases the amounts of the spills and their causes are usually undetermined. During 1978-1979, tanker captains reported to the Japan Oceanographic Data Center about 412 oil slicks in the Gulf and its approaches.' Table 1 shows major oil spills exceeding 3,000 barrels which occurred between August, 1980, and August, 1982. Although these are relatively current, it should be noted that other significant oil spills have occurred since oil was discovered in the region by Iran in 1908.