Risk firm Ambrey working to salvage ship spewing oil into sea off Oman

LONDON, Aug 13 (Reuters) - Risk management firm Ambrey said on Thursday it was coordinating the salvage of a ship spilling Russian crude into the Arabian Sea off the coast of Oman in one of the world's worst oil spills for years.

Ambrey has contracted a "leading international oil spill response company" and is working with Oman and other stakeholders to secure the Caroline Bezengi tanker, it said in a statement.

It did not name the company dealing with the spill or give a timeline, but said the response included salvage vessels, aircraft and specialists using 100 tons of equipment.

The Caroline Bezengi, carrying an estimated 800,000 barrels of Russian oil and under international sanctions, ran aground on June 30 after an apparent attack. It is grounded near an Omani marine nature reserve that is home to wildlife including humpback whales and Socotra cormorants.

An annual monsoon in the area is complicating the salvage efforts, Ambrey said, a day after Oman confirmed that the massive oil slick from the tanker had reached its shores.

TANKER SAILED FROM BLACK SEA PORT OF NOVOROSSIYSK

The tanker first reported difficulties off Yemen on June 8 after what maritime sources said appeared to be a blast.

No party has claimed an attack, but the vessel was navigating two separate wars on its journey from Russia to India.

In April it sailed from the Russian port of Novorossiysk on the Black Sea, a flashpoint in the Russia-Ukraine war. Ukraine has carried out assaults on a so-called shadow fleet carrying Russian oil, which the Caroline Bezengi is part of.

It then passed through the Suez Canal at the end of May, ship-tracking data shows, before sailing past Yemen, where the Iran-aligned Houthi militants have entered a wider regional war between the U.S., Israel and Iran.

Oman's environment agency said on Wednesday that the oil slick from the Caroline Bezengi had started to hit the country's coastline, threatening to become one of the world's worst in years after spreading largely unchecked for weeks.

(Reporting by Jonathan Saul; Additional reporting by Tala Ramadan; Writing by John Davison; Editing by Mark Potter, Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Jan Harvey)