Oil Tanker News

An oil tanker loaded with Iraqi crude passed through the Strait of Hormuz close to the Iranian coast, a day after Iran said Iraq was exempt from any restrictions to transit the vital sea route, data from LSEG and Kpler showed.The Ocean Thunder loaded about 1 million barrels of Basrah Heavy crude on March 2 and is expected to discharge its cargo in Malaysia's Pengerang, in mid-April, Kpler data showed.The tanker - which the data showed was chartered by Petco, a unit of Malaysian state energy firm Petronas - is among seven Malaysia-linked vessels cleared by Iran to transit the strait…

Oil tanker availability along the U.S. Gulf Coast has dropped sharply in recent weeks, as Asian and European refiners cut off from Middle Eastern supply have been snapping up vessels to import oil and fuel from the United States, shipping analysts and traders said.The Iran war has stalled tanker movements through the Strait of Hormuz, curbing the flow of Middle Eastern oil to Asia and Europe, and prompting refiners there to buy replacement barrels from the United States, Brazil and West Africa.Wider discounts on U.S.

An oil tanker leased to state-owned QatarEnergy was hit by an Iranian cruise missile on Wednesday in Qatari waters, the defence ministry said.Qatar was targeted by three cruise missiles coming from Iran. Two were intercepted while the third hit the Aqua 1 fuel oil tanker, but caused no casualties.Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said they had targeted the oil tanker because of what they said were its ties with Israel."Aqua One was precisely targeted in the central region of the Persian Gulf in a missile battle…

A Russia-flagged tanker carrying some 700,000 barrels of crude arrived in Cuba's Matanzas Bay at daybreak on Tuesday, according to a Reuters witness and shipping data, marking the first significant oil delivery since the Trump administration cut off the island's fuel supply.The Anatoly Kolodkin vessel, under U.S. sanctions, entered Cuban territorial waters late on Sunday not far from the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay. The U.S. said it was allowing the tanker to deliver fuel…

Iran attacked a fully-loaded crude oil tanker at Dubai Port's anchorage on Monday, setting it ablaze and damaging its hull, Kuwait's state news agency reported, citing Kuwait Petroleum Corp, which warned of a possible oil spill.The apparent strike is just the latest in a string of assaults on merchant vessels by missiles or explosive air and sea drones in the Gulf and Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran on February 28.U.S. crude futures CLc1 rose more than…

The U.S. is allowing a Russian tanker full of crude oil to reach Cuba, the New York Times reported on Sunday, possibly granting a lifeline to the Caribbean island amid a de facto oil blockade imposed by Washington.Ship tracking data showed the Russian-flagged tanker Anatoly ⁠Kolodkin on Sunday was just off the eastern tip of Cuba.The Times report, citing a U.S. official briefed on the matter, said it was unclear why the U.S. Coast Guard was allowing the shipment to go through.

A tanker carrying some 200,000 barrels of Russia-origin fuel originally bound for Cuba has arrived in Venezuelan waters, LSEG ship-monitoring data showed on Friday.The Hong Kong-flagged vessel Sea Horse, which this year loaded Russia-origin diesel through a ship-to-ship transfer, earlier this month rerouted from Cuba to Venezuela after remaining stuck in the Atlantic Ocean for weeks, a blow for the oil-thirsty island that has seen several power blackouts this month.It was unclear why the Sea Horse had been stranded at sea, or why it had changed course to Venezuela.The administration of U.S.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said on Thursday he had authorised the military to board and detain Russian ships in British waters to disrupt a network of vessels that his government says enables Moscow to export oil despite Western sanctions.The decision comes as other European nations, including France, Belgium and Sweden, have stepped up efforts to detain Russia's so-called shadow fleet of tankers used by Moscow to fund its four-year war against Ukraine.Starmer said he approved…

A marine drone struck a Turkish crude oil tanker that had departed Russia, causing an explosion in the Black Sea near Istanbul's Bosphorus strait on Thursday, Turkey's transportation minister said.The incident, one of several in recent months involving Western-sanctioned vessels heading to or from Russian ports, occurred in the early hours, minister Abdulkadir Uraloglu told broadcaster Kanal 24.All 27 crew were safe, he said, adding that the coastguard had been dispatched to the vessel…

Two Indian-flagged liquefied petroleum gas tankers are preparing to sail through the Strait of Hormuz in coming days after a pause in voyages, with no crude oil tankers having transited the waterway in the past 24 hours, according to shipping data and sources.Hundreds of vessels have dropped anchor since Tehran threatened to attack ships attempting to leave the Gulf via the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20% of global oil and liquefied natural gas flow.The two tankers were currently anchored in Gulf waters…

A damaged Russian LNG tanker that has been drifting unmanned in the Mediterranean for more than two weeks, risking a major ecological disaster, is four to six days from Libya’s shores, an Italian official said on Friday.The Arctic Metagaz, carrying LNG from the Arctic port of Murmansk, has been unmanned since early March, when it was hit by Ukrainian naval drones, according to Russia's Transport Ministry.Kyiv has not claimed responsibility for any such attack.The tanker is currently in international waters falling under Libya's search and rescue zone, some 53 nautical miles (98 kilometres) nor

A tanker carrying fuel originally bound for Cuba on Friday changed its destination to Trinidad and Tobago, according to LSEG ship-tracking data, a blow for the island amid a severe fuel scarcity that has triggered power blackouts.The Hong Kong-flagged vessel Sea Horse loaded a diesel cargo earlier this year through a ship-to-ship transfer in the Mediterranean before setting sail to the Caribbean.The Russian-origin cargo was bound for Cuba, according to several maritime intelligence firms…

The French Navy seized an oil tanker on Friday in the Western Mediterranean that President Emmanuel Macron said belonged to Russia's shadow fleet, a network of vessels that enables Moscow to export oil despite Western sanctions.Local officials told Reuters earlier on Friday that the navy had boarded a Mozambique-flagged oil tanker named Deyna that was suspected of flying a false flag. The ship had been sailing from the Russian port of Murmansk.Western sanctions imposed on Russia…

The U.S. may soon remove sanctions from Iranian oil that is stranded on tankers to help lift global supplies and reduce prices, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Thursday."In the coming days, we may unsanction the Iranian oil that's on the water. It's about 140 million barrels," Bessent told Fox Business Network's "Mornings with Maria" program."So, depending on how you count it, that's 10 days to two weeks of supply," he added.Bessent said the addition of sanctioned Iranian oil into global supplies would help keep oil prices down for the next 10 to 14 days.

The Swedish coast guard said on Thursday it boarded and took control of a suspected stateless vessel in Swedish waters of the Baltic Sea, in the second such incident in less than a week.The 228-meter-long (250 yards) tanker Sea Owl I was flying the Comorian flag, and the coast guard said it suspected the ship was sailing under a false flag.The ship is also on the sanctions list of several countries, including the EU."The threats to maritime safety and the environment are too high," said Daniel Stenling, deputy chief of operations at the coast guard.

The Trump administration is considering waiving the century-old Jones Act for a limited period to ensure energy and agricultural shipments can move freely between U.S. ports, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday, in a bid to combat Iran-related supply disruptions."In the interest of national defense, the White House is considering waiving the Jones Act for a limited period of time to ensure vital energy products and agricultural necessities are flowing freely to U.S.

Belgium has imposed a 10 million euro ($11.61 million) bail on Russian oil tanker Ethera, which it seized on Sunday, the government said on Tuesday.The North Sea ministry said the tanker was part of a Russian shadow fleet sailing with a false flag and false documents."Forty-five violations were identified. These mainly involved false certificates, stemming from the discovery that the ship was sailing under a false Guinean flag," it said in a statement.The Ethera can sail again only after the sum is paid and a follow‑up inspection confirms compliance…

President Donald Trump will review a set of policy options on Tuesday aimed at controlling energy prices during the escalating Middle East conflict, including a proposal for the U.S. government to help oil tankers in the region obtain insurance, two sources said.Global crude prices have spiked since Israeli and U.S. forces began striking Iran over the weekend, leading to fighting that has interrupted Middle East oil tanker shipments.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Energy…

The cost of hiring a supertanker from the Middle East to China exceeded $200,000 a day on Thursday for the first time since 2020 as the threat of U.S. attacks on Iran grows and buyers seek to lock in oil cargoes, according to data and market sources.Iran pledged to show flexibility at indirect talks with Washington on their longstanding nuclear dispute on Thursday, with Tehran under pressure to agree to a deal or face U.S. military strikes. The Strait of Hormuz runs along Iran's…

U.S. military forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after tracking it from Caribbean waters, the Pentagon said on Tuesday, adding that it was the third such interdiction in that region.After capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a military raid last month in Caracas, Washington has escalated its blockade on vessels that are under sanctions and going to and from the South American country, a member of the OPEC oil producers' group.In a post on X, the U.S. Department of Defense said its forces boarded the Bertha overnight.

U.S. military forces boarded a crude oil tanker in the Indian Ocean after pursuing it from the Caribbean, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Monday, accusing the vessel of breaching Washington's blockade on sanctioned vessels traveling to or from Venezuela."Overnight, U.S. military forces conducted a right-of-visit, maritime interdiction and boarding on the Aquila II without incident " Hegseth wrote in a post on X. "It ran, and we followed."After capturing Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in a military raid last month in Caracas, the U.S.

The UK Marine Accident Investigation Branch (MAIB) has released its investigation report into the collision between the crude oil tanker Apache and the stern trawler Serinah (GH 116) in the Firth of Clyde, Scotland on 25 April 2024.At about 1503 on 25 April 2024, the crude oil tanker Apache and the stern trawler Serinah collided in the Firth of Clyde resulting in Serinah sinking rapidly. All three of the fishing vessel’s crew were able to abandon ship to the liferaft and were uninjured.When the collision happened Serinah was fishing a seabed depression in the middle of the Firth of Clyde…

An oil tanker that has transported Venezuelan fuel to Cuba since April last year finished loading this week a 150,000-barrel cargo of gasoline, a shipping schedule seen by Reuters shows, a possible sign that the OPEC country could be preparing to send supplies to the island under U.S. supervision.As of Thursday, it was not clear yet if the vessel had left Venezuela as it was last spotted by monitoring service TankerTrackers.com in Venezuelan waters on Monday. Reuters could not confirm the tanker's ultimate destination. Any tanker now leaving Venezuelan waters can only do so with U.S.