Gulf States Look to buy US Military Sensors to Track Oil Spills

Raytheon is a US defence contractor, producing weapons and military electronic devices. Kevin Massengil, the vice president and regional executive, has recently announced that they “are in discussions with at least four countries” from the Gulf of Persia, to supply military sensors which will enable them to track oil leaks back to the offending tanker.

The gulf is one of the busiest trade routes for oil in the world, with billions of dollars passing through each day. That is a lot of oil, and just a few tankers leaking small amounts can add up to a large spill. The interested governments hope that using the sensors will allow them to crack down on the environmental impact that passing tankers have on the local coastline.

Massengil said that “without this kind of technology you will have people who will dump their ballast, to lighten their load, at the mouth of the Arabian Gulf. With this you can trace it back to the individual boat and assess fines properly and you can keep that behaviour at a minimum.” That is the plan.

James Hvzid, vice president of space and airborne systems at Raytheon, last year told Arabian Business that “the (Emirates) Ministry of Environment has made it very clear over the years that it wants to tackle the environmental issue. It is an exciting time to take our technology and work those issues.”

By. Joao Peixe of Oilprice.com