February 14 - USA - Clean up operations are underway at Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge after an underground corroded pipeline fitting released as many as 100,000 gallons of fuel in the fuel farm area last week. The atoll provides nesting and resting habitat for almost two million seabirds, as well as important habitat for migratory shorebirds, threatened green sea turtles, and endangered Hawaiian monk seals. Since almost all of the spill is underground, however, impact to wildlife has so far been minimal, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said.
March 18 - AUSTRALIA - A large oil spill is threatening to pollute the Brisbane River, where up to 1.5 million litres of crude oil has leaked from a ruptured pipeline at the Santos terminal. Emergency crews have contained the oil to creeks and wetlands in an area of about eight hectares in the Lytton industrial estate. Booms further up the water course had not stopped the oil and the outgoing tide was threatening to drag the slick into the river and Moreton Bay.
March 20 - VIETNAM - Thousands of acres of clam and shrimp farms were in danger after a ship carrying 600 tonnes of fuel oil sank in the river in Ho Chi Minh City, environment officials said. The oil slick spread about seven kilometers towards Can Gio district, home of several aqua-cultural farms. It also spread three kilometers towards Vung Tau province, but has yet to hit the beaches there.
May 31 - SWEDEN - The Swedish government accused Denmark of reacting too slowly to the sinking of a Chinese vessel in Danish waters near Sweden's coast, saying the effects of the ensuing oil spill could have been reduced. The Fu Shan Hai bulk carrier went down in Danish waters between the Swedish coast and Denmark's Bornholm island, following a collision with a Polish freighter. At least 100 tonnes of oil have already leaked out into the water, and a large oil slick gushing from the vessel has hit Sweden's popular southeastern coast.
June 12 - SINGAPORE - The MV APL Emerald, a 40.077 ton container ship, spilled about 150 tonnes of fuel oil when it ran aground near Horsburgh Lighthouse, in the eastern approaches of the Singapore Straits. Six anti-pollution craft were involved in the clean-up, and oil booms have been laid around the vessel to contain the spill, which has since been contained. The authorities said there was no chance of any fuel reaching Singapore's shores, about 46km away.
July 12 - RUSSIA - Russian divers are exploring a sunken Japanese tanker that has begun releasing large quantities of oil and threatens to spark an ecological disaster off the west coast of the Pacific island of Sakhalin. More than two tonnes of fuel have leaked in the past few days from the Takeo Maru, which sank in 1979 off the sea port of Shakhtersk. The leaked oil is floating in the Tatar strait and heading for the coast. With up to 300 tonnes of fuel oil remaining inside the sunken tanker, the Takeo Maru could be an ecological bomb that jeopardizes Russia's Pacific coastline.
August 13 - PAKISTAN - An oil tanker has broken up off Pakistan's Arabian Sea port, Karachi, after spilling nearly 10,000 tonnes of oil, sparking fears of lasting damage to local marine life. The Greek-registered MV Tasman Spirit, still carrying 35,000 tonnes of crude oil, split in two around 100 metres from the Karachi port, after running aground on July 27. Officials said that most of the oil had pooled along Clifton beach, the favourite beach resort among Karachi's 14 million people. A thick oil slick could be seen snaking from the ship to the shores alongside the port, blackening waves and seeping onto sands. Environmentalists predicted the entire 40 kilometre (25 mile) Karachi coastline could be affected, endangering fish, crabs and rare turtles.
