On December 7th in 2007, a Hong Kong-registered VLCC Hebei Spirit (146,848GT) was struck by a crane barge approximately eight kilometers off Taean on the west coast of South Korea. The collision punctured the tanker’s cargo tanks and released 12,000kl or more crude oil into the Yellow Sea. The spilled oil drifted ashore and washed up the Taean coastline in a short time. This incident was the worst oil spill disaster in South Korea which resulted in serious environmental and economic damages.
　PARI dispatched research team to the incident place from 20th to 22th of December 2007 to investigate the impact of the oil spill, supported by KORDI. This report is based on PARI’s field observation as well as other materials, and provides the overview of the incident including how the incident happened, how the oil drifted and damaged the coast line, as well as how the clean-up operation was carried out.