Iran launches oil recovery ships in Caspian Sea
Iran has launched three oil recovery ships in the Caspian Sea to
collect seawater polluted by oil, the official IRIB news agency
reported Dec. 8.
The Islamic Republic’s Marine Industrial Company, located in the
northern city of Neka, made the vessels over a 24 months
period.
Each oil recovery ship has the capacity to displace 500 metric tons
of spilt oil.
Their dimension is 44 meters length, 10 meters width and 3 meters
height.
Iran has already launched oil recovery ships in the Gulf and Oman
Sea, but it is the first time that the country uses this type of
vessels in Caspian Sea.
The Caspian Sea, surrounded by Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan,
Turkmenistan, Russia and Iran ,has long suffered pollution from oil
extraction and other industries.
Russians are the greatest polluters. They reportedly create 80
percent of the Caspian pollution.
In July 2013, the then deputy head of Iran ’s Environmental Protection Organization, Abdolrza Karbasi said that the Caspian Sea is mainly polluted with oil, industrial and household waste, as well as sewage.
“ Iran ’s share in pollution of the sea is equal to 12 percent,"
he added.
The littoral states have held five meetings on the Protection of
Marine Environment, the latest one in May 2014.