Offshore spill less damaging than coastal, expert warns.

“If this oil is kept offshore, the impact will be much less than if the oil reaches shallower waters and the actual coastline,” he said, citing the impact on diverse marine life such as coral, birds and fish.

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“You could find oil still there years later. And that’s what happened with Exxon Valdez. Ten years down the line, there still were remnants of oil,” he said, referring to a 1989 spill in Alaska.

An analysis by Reuters of satellite imagery and shipping specialists showed the spill from the stranded 274-metre (900-foot) tanker was still spreading at the end of last month, raising concern about possible environmental damage.

John Amos, CEO of SkyTruth, a nonprofit organization aiming to strengthen environmental conservation through the use of satellite images, said although the incident had been ongoing for more than two months, there had not been any sign of vessel activity at the site to suggest a response to stabilize the Caroline Bezengi and remove the remaining oil cargo to prevent a catastrophic spill.

“We haven’t seen that on publicly available satellite imagery. We haven’t seen that on satellite-collected AIS tracking data. And that’s a concern,” Amos said.

The Caroline Bezengi loaded at Russia’s Black Sea port of Novorossiysk in April and passed through the Suez Canal at the end of May, ship-tracking data shows.

Built in 2001, it is part of the so-called shadow fleet of older oil tankers used by Russia which lack Western insurance cover and sail under the flags of various nations to obscure their true ownership.