Charted: Tracking the Decline in Oil Spills from Tankers (1970-2024)
Description
Chart: Tracking the Fall of Oil Spills from Tankers
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- Oil‑spills from tankers have fallen by more than 90% since the 1970s.
- Improved ship design, stricter regulation and better spill‑response infrastructure are major contributors to the decline.
The dataset comes from the International Tanker Owners Pollution Federation (ITOPF) and was visualized by Our World in Data. It tracks the quantity of oil spilled from tanker incidents over time.
| Year | Quantity of oil spilled from tankers (global, tonnes) | Major Incidents |
|---|---|---|
| 1970 | 383000 | |
| 1971 | 144000 | |
| 1972 | 313000 | Sea Star (Gulf of Oman) |
| 1973 | 159000 | |
| 1974 | 174000 | |
| 1975 | 352000 | |
| 1976 | 365000 | |
| 1977 | 276000 | |
| 1978 | 393000 | Amoco Cadiz (Brittany, France) |
| 1979 | 636000 | Atlantic Empress (Near Trinidad and Tobago) |
| 1980 | 206000 | |
| 1981 | 48000 | |
| 1982 | 12000 | |
| 1983 | 384000 | Castillo de Bellver (Near Cape Town, South Africa) |
| 1984 | 29000 | |
| 1985 | 85000 | |
| 1986 | 19000 | |
| 1987 | 38000 | |
| 1988 | 190000 | |
| 1989 | 164000 | Exxon Valdez (Prince William Sound, Alaska) |
| 1990 | 61000 | |
| 1991 | 431000 | ABT Summer (Offshore Angola) |
| 1992 | 167000 | |
| 1993 | 140000 | |
| 1994 | 130000 | |
| 1995 | 12000 | |
| 1996 | 80000 | |
| 1997 | 72000 | |
| 1998 | 13000 | |
| 1999 | 28000 | |
| 2000 | 14000 | |
| 2001 | 9000 | |
| 2002 | 66000 | |
| 2003 | 43000 | |
| 2004 | 17000 | |
| 2005 | 15000 | |
| 2006 | 12000 | |
| 2007 | 15000 | |
| 2008 | 2000 | |
| 2009 | 3000 | |
| 2010 | 12000 | |
| 2011 | 2000 | |
| 2012 | 1000 | |
| 2013 | 7000 | |
| 2014 | 5000 | |
| 2015 | 7000 | |
| 2016 | 6000 | |
| 2017 | 7000 | |
| 2018 | 116000 | Sanchi (East China Sea) |
| 2019 | 1000 | |
| 2020 | 1000 | |
| 2021 | 10000 | |
| 2022 | 15000 | |
| 2023 | 2000 | |
| 2024 | 10000 |
The table above reveals a dramatic drop in the volume of oil lost from tanker incidents: peaks in the early decades (1970s) have been replaced by far lower levels of spilled oil today. The outliers from earlier decades (with huge single‑events) stand in stark contrast to the much smaller numbers now.
Why Oil Spills from Tankers are Much Rarer
Several factors have driven and clarified the decline. First, international regulation such as double‑hull requirements for oil tankers, improvements in navigation systems and tougher port state controls have raised the baseline safety of tanker operations.
Second, the increasing professionalism of the industry around spill prevention and response means incidents that might have
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