Oil Pollution in the Mediterranean Waters of Egypt

Abstract

Oil pollution in the Mediterranean waters of Egypt is related to two main factors: (1) a huge ship traffic related to the passage through the Suez Canal, as well as operation of 6 ports located on the coastal zone of Egypt; and (2) significant increase of offshore activities related to exploration and development of several gas fields, which were discovered during the past decades. A review of the historical oil pollution in the Mediterranean Sea has not revealed serious cases of oil pollution in the Mediterranean waters of Egypt, but small and medium-size oil spills do exist as it is well seen on accumulated maps of oil spills detected by satellite remote sensing. A dozen of such cases have been found in records of the REMPEC MEDGIS-MAR tool. Unfortunately, Egypt has no satellite monitoring system for detection of oil pollution in the Mediterranean and Red Sea waters. This is why we provide satellite SAR imagery acquired in 2017–2019 to demonstrate detection of oil spills in the Mediterranean waters of Egypt. The presented cases of oil pollution show the necessity of establishing permanent operational integrated satellite monitoring of oil pollution in the Mediterranean and Red Sea waters of Egypt.