Oil spill detected off Iran's Kharg Island: Windward

A massive oil slick has been detected off Iran's Kharg Island in the Persian Gulf and is moving southeastward, London-headquartered maritime risk intelligence firm Windward said on Friday.

Windward said the spill was first identified on May 5 approximately 1.27 km west of the western side of Kharg Island, Iran's main oil export terminal.

The spill was subsequently confirmed through three satellite observations conducted over a 20-hour period, the company said.

Pictures from Copernicus's Sentinel-1, Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-3 satellites taken between May 6 and May 8 showed an oil spill covering dozens of square kilometers of sea near the island.

According to Windward's tracking data, the spill is currently located about 11 km southwest of Kharg Island and is advancing at an estimated speed of around 2 km per hour on a heading of roughly 150 degrees.

Meteorological data cited by the company showed northwesterly winds of approximately 20 knots contributing to the spill's movement.

Based on current projections, the oil slick could pass through waters within Qatar's exclusive economic zone in about 3.6 days, while the nearest potential landfall point is expected to be Al Mirfa in the United Arab Emirates in around 13 days if prevailing conditions persist.

Earlier in the conflict, U.S. forces said they had destroyed military targets on Kharg Island during military operations in the region.

According to a report by Iran's Tasnim News Agency early Saturday, Jafar Pourkabani, a representative of the Islamic Parliament from Bushehr Province, refuted media claims that Iran was dumping oil into the sea due to full storage tanks.

Pourkabani said that these reports are part of a psychological warfare campaign by adversaries. He explained that oil pollution around Kharg Island was actually caused by a European oil tanker discharging oil residues and ballast water waste.

The central parity rate of the Chinese currency renminbi, or the yuan, weakened 15 pips to 6.8502 against the U.S. dollar Friday, according to the China Foreign Exchange Trade System.

In China's spot foreign exchange market, the yuan is allowed to rise or fall by 2 percent from the central parity rate each trading day.

The central parity rate of the yuan against the U.S. dollar is based on a weighted average of prices offered by market makers before the opening of the interbank market each business day.