© Getty Images

Oil spill on Russia’s Black Sea coast, 2024 -

An extensive oil spill contaminated a large stretch along the Black Sea coast in southern Russia's Krasnodar Region following severe damage to two oil tankers, Volgoneft 212 and Volgoneft 239, during a storm on December 15, 2024. Each vessel was carrying over 4,000 tons of mazut—a low-grade heavy fuel oil commonly used in power plants in the former Soviet Union.

© Reuters

Oil spill on Russia’s Black Sea coast, 2024 -

Local birdlife suffered from the oil spill, and marine ecosystems continue to face devastating consequences, while the region grapples with the lasting impact of the disaster.

© Reuters

Oil spill in Manila Bay, 2024 -

On July 25, a marine oil tanker called the MT Terra Nova capsized in Manila Bay, the biggest port in the Philippines. The 213-foot (65-meter-long) boat was carrying 1,647 US tons of industrial fuel through heavy monsoon rains and rough seas amid Typhoon Carina, which has battered much of the country. The potential environmental impact of the incident was also of great concern. If the tanker's cargo were to spill out into the bay, it would have caused the worst oil spill in the country's history.

© Getty Images

Mauritius oil spill, 2020 -

A "state of emergency" was been declared in Mauritius after a ship that ran aground near the shore began spilling tonnes of oil.

© Getty Images 

Mauritius oil spill, 2020 -

The vessel MV Wakashio, belonging to a Japanese company but Panamanian-flagged, ran aground near Blue Bay Marine Park off the south-east coast of the Indian Ocean island-nation.

© Getty Images 

Mauritius oil spill, 2020 -

Huge quantities of diesel and oil leaked into the water, threatening the environment and local wildlife. Fortunately, wildlife workers and volunteers carried dozens of baby tortoises and rare plants from Ile aux Aigrettes, an island close to the spill, to the mainland to protect the.

© Getty Images 

Lakeview Gusher, 1910 -

The largest accidental oil spill in US history happened during the early days of the oil boom, in Kern County, California. Drilling commenced in the Midway-Sunset Oil Field, where natural gas and a small amount of oil was expected to be found. Instead, drill workers punctured a pressurized oil well, triggering an eruption of crude oil that lasted for 18 months.

© Getty Images

Lakeview Gusher, 1910 -

Crews worked twenty-four-seven to contain the blowout, building sandbag dams to contain the spill (pictured).

© Public Domain 

Lakeview Gusher, 1910 -

A series of dykes was able to contain the river of crude oil. However, successive attempts to cap the geyser all failed, and an estimated 9 million barrels of oil defaced the landscape. The eruption ceased only when the well collapsed on itself, leaving a crater in the desert surrounded by oil, which eventually seeped into the ground.

© Public Domain 

Kuwait oil fires, 1991 -

As part of a scorched earth policy while retreating from US-led coalition forces in Kuwait in 1991, Iraqi military forces set fire to over 700 oil wells.

© Getty Images

Kuwait oil fires, 1991 -

A satellite image shows smoke plumes billowing from some of the damaged wells.

© Public Domain

Kuwait oil fires, 1991 -

Kuwait's deserts were soaked in oil while smoke from the fires affected weather patterns throughout the Persian Gulf and surrounding region. Smoke from the burning wells caused a dramatic decrease in air quality, and soldiers on the ground without gas masks were soon suffering from respiratory problems.

© Getty Images

Kuwait oil lakes, 1991 -

The Kuwaiti oil fires were not just limited to burning oil wells. Burning "oil lakes" also contributed to the smoke plumes, particularly the sootiest and blackest of them.

© Getty Images

Kuwait oil lakes, 1991 -

The oil lakes had a devastating effect on the environment.

© Getty Images 

Kuwait oil lakes, 1991 -

Winds fanned the smoke from the lakes along the eastern half of the Arabian Peninsula, where it reached Dhahran and Riyadh, and countries such as Bahrain. The smoke-filled skies and carbon soot rain fallout caused respiratory problems for many Kuwaitis and those in neighboring countries.

© Getty Images

Deepwater Horizon oil spill, 2010 -

On April 20, 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon floating drilling rig exploded. At one point, an estimated leak of 1,000 barrels of oil a day was being discarded into the gulf.

© Getty Images

Deepwater Horizon oil spill, 2010 -

A ribbon of oil is seen in the water on May 4, 2010, near the Chandeleur Islands. A massive response ensued to protect beaches, wetlands, and estuaries from the spreading oil utilizing skimmer ships, floating booms, controlled burns, and oil dispersant. The spill had a devastating impact on marine life in the gulf.

© Getty Images 

Ixtoc I oil spill, 1979 -

Thirty one years earlier, the Gulf of Mexico was the scene of another catastrophic oil spill. On June 3, 1979, the Ixtoc exploratory oil well suffered a blowout in the Bay of Campeche resulting in one of the largest oil spills in history. Pictured is a barge (right foreground) spraying chemical dispersant on excess oil around the burning well.

© Getty Images 

Ixtoc I oil spill, 1979 -

Prevailing currents carried the oil towards the Texas coastline. A slick eventually surrounded Rancho Nuevo, in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which is one of the few nesting sites for the critically endangered Kemp's ridley sea turtles. Fortunately, thousands of baby sea turtles were airlifted to a clean portion of the Gulf of Mexico to help save the rare species.

© Public Domain 

Ixtoc I oil spill, 1979 -

The well ran wild for nine months and spilled the equivalent of 3.3 million barrels of oil into the Bay of Campeche. The blowout polluted a considerable part of the offshore region in the Gulf of Mexico as well as much of the coastal zone.

© Public Domain 

Amoco Cadiz oil spill, 1978 -

On March 16, 1978, the Liberian flagged supertanker Amoco Cadiz ran aground on Portsall Rocks, 5 km (3 mi) from the coast of Brittany, France.

© Getty Images 

Amoco Cadiz oil spill, 1978 -

Severe weather resulted in the complete breakup of the ship before any oil could be pumped out of the wreck, resulting in her entire cargo of crude oil and 4,000 tonnes of fuel oil being spilled into the sea. Pictured is the Portsall shoreline, covered with oil after the sinking of the Amoco Cadiz.

© Getty Images 

Amoco Cadiz oil spill, 1978 -

Marine life in the region was decimated, and an immediate mortality impact was observed. Entire populations of periwinkles, limpets, urchins, and other crustaceans were wiped out. Sea birds were also severely affected. The environmental impact was considerable, and the ecosystem took many years to recover.

© Getty Images 

Exxon Valdez oil spill, 1989 -

The running aground of the Exxon Valdez on a reef in Prince William Sound in Alaska on March 24, 1989 is considered the worst oil spill worldwide in terms of damage to the environment. Pictured, boats and booms circle the stricken vessel to control the spreading slicks.

© Getty Images 

Exxon Valdez oil spill, 1989 -

A pristine habitat for salmon, sea otters, seals, and various seabirds, Prince William Sound bore the brunt of the spill. The immediate effects included the deaths of 100,000 to as many as 250,000 seabirds, at least 2,800 sea otters, approximately 12 river otters, 300 harbor seals, 247 bald eagles, and 22 orcas (killer whales), and an unknown number of salmon and herring.

© Getty Images 

Exxon Valdez oil spill, 1989 -

Seals swim in Alaskan oil slick following the Exxon Valdez shipping disaster. Over 30 years later, the environmental impact is still being felt.

© Getty Images 

Torrey Canyon oil spill, 1967 -

When the supertanker SS Torrey Canyon ran aground on a reef off the south-west coast of the United Kingdom on March 18, 1967, the world witnessed one of the first serious oil spills at sea.

© Getty Images 

Torrey Canyon oil spill, 1967 -

Around 15,000 sea birds were killed, along with huge numbers of marine organisms. Pictured are soldiers and firemen in a small boat surrounded by oil from the stricken tanker as they try to rig a floating "boom" to contain the slick before it moves into Porthleven Harbor.

© Getty Images 

Torrey Canyon oil spill, 1967 -

Aircraft from the Fleet Air Arm were scrambled to bomb the ship and break her up before aviation fuel was dumped on the wreckage and ignited to set the drifting oil ablaze. The ship eventually sank to end what is still the worst spill in UK history.

© Getty Images

Prestige oil spill, 2002 -

The sinking in November 2002 of the oil tanker MV Prestige off the coast of Galicia in Spain led to the polluting of vast stretches of coastline and more than 1,000 beaches on the Spanish, French, and Portuguese coasts.

© Getty Images 

Prestige oil spill, 2002 -

The Prestige oil spill caused great harm to the local fishing industry as the black tide of heavy fuel oil arrived along the coast. Here, fishermen from the Spanish city of Vigo attempt to pick up the smuts of oil left on the surface after the vessel succumbed to the ocean.

© Getty Images 

Prestige oil spill, 2002 -

Environmental contamination was widespread. The spill remains Spain's worst ecological disaster, and huge numbers of birdlife and sealife were either poisoned or killed.

See also: How to prepare for a natural disaster

© Getty Images