Archive: The LNG carrier Arctic Princess off Hammerfest, Norway, in 2015. Joachim Kohler Bremen, CC BY-SA 4.0.
A liquefied natural gas tanker was struck by an unknown projectile on its port side and caught fire about 40 nautical miles south of Iran’s Lavan Island on Friday, according to a UK Maritime Trade Operations report carried by maritime security firm Clearwater Dynamics. The crew was reported safe, and no environmental impact was reported.
The strike occurred at 18:00 UTC Friday. Clearwater identified the vessel as the Marshall Islands-flagged LNG tanker AL MAYEDA. The report did not identify who fired the projectile.
The strike came a day after a small boat attached two explosive devices to a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz about 25 nautical miles northeast of Khasab, Oman, setting off blasts that caused an engine-room fire and temporarily disabled the vessel – the first such attack of the campaign, according to tanker industry group INTERTANKO.
UKMTO said Friday that a crude oil tanker had also been struck by an unknown projectile while completing an outbound transit of the strait, without specifying the time or position. Authorities are investigating, and the agency advised vessels to transit with caution and report suspicious activity.
The week’s attacks pushed reported incidents involving commercial vessels in and around the strait past 30 in October, the highest monthly total since the U.S.-Iran war began in February, according to UKMTO data. The agency says its records only include incidents reported by verified vessels, and the actual number is likely higher.
Oil markets are closed for the weekend. U.S. crude settled Friday at $102.95 a barrel, with futures due to resume trading Sunday at 6 p.m. Eastern. The strait is the exit route for Gulf crude and LNG cargoes, and commercial traffic through it has run well below pre-war levels, according to the latest Joint Maritime Information Center advisory.
JBizNews Desk | Global Shipping
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