Oil Tanker News

The U.S. Transportation Department on Tuesday approved a license for oil transportation and storage company Sentinel Midstream's planned deepwater oil export project off the Texas coast.Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement to Reuters the Texas GulfLink project is part of the Trump administration's effort to boost the U.S. oil industry and production and allow for the export of up to 1 million barrels of crude oil per day. The Texas GulfLink deepwater port will be located approximately 26.6 nautical miles off the coast of Brazoria County…

Egypt said on Wednesday that it is working on securing the release of four citizens who were detained by Iran last month after Tehran seized a foreign tanker on charges of carrying "smuggled fuel" in the Gulf.In a statement, the Egyptian foreign ministry said four Egyptian crew members were currently on board the Reem alKhaleej vessel at Iran's Bandar Abbas port.Iran said last month that it had seized a foreign oil tanker carrying 4 million litres of smuggled fuel near the Iranian island of Qeshm in the Gulf.

An oil tanker under EU sanctions for carrying Russian oil is being escorted to Tanger Med in Morocco by a Spanish rescue ship, Spain's Merchant Marine said on Tuesday.The Chariot Tide, which was sailing under a Mozambique flag and until November was known as the Marabella Sun, has been on an EU sanctions list since November 2024 for helping Russia export oil "while practicing irregular and high-risk shipping practices," according to the European Union. It has also been sanctioned by the UK…

The United States on Friday imposed sanctions on nine vessels of what is known as the shadow fleet and eight related firms, the U.S. Treasury Department said, as the Trump administration sought to escalate pressure on Iran over the recent killing of protesters.The Treasury said the vessels and their respective owners or management firms, which include entities based in India, Oman and the United Arab Emirates, have collectively transported hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth…

The French navy has diverted the "GRINCH" oil tanker it detained on Thursday towards the port of Marseille-Fos for further investigation, a source close to the investigation told Reuters on Friday.The navy had intercepted the tanker, which had left Murmansk in early January, on suspicion of operating under a false flag and belonging to the "shadow fleet" that enables Russia to export oil despite sanctions, shortly after it crossed into the Mediterranean Sea through the Straits of Gibraltar.The case is being investigated by the prosecutor of Marseille…

US Coast Guard Sector San Juan Command Center watchstanders and the crew of the Horten Liberian-flagged tanker rescued a capsized rower in the Atlantic Ocean east of Puerto Rico, Wednesday night.Benoit Bourguet, 47, was in his single-man rowing vessel, City of Liverpool, which was reportedly struck by two rogue waves and capsized in 13 to 15-foot seas which forced Bourguet to deploy and board his life raft.Bourguet and the City of Liverpool vessel were competing in the World’s Toughest Row Race, a 3,000-mile rowing race from San Sebastian de la Gomera, Spain, to Nelson’s Dockyard in Antigua.

Two China-flagged supertankers that were sailing to Venezuela to pick up debt-paying crude cargoes amid the U.S. oil embargo on the OPEC country have made u-turn and are now heading back to Asia, LSEG shipping data showed on Monday.Following the U.S. announcement last week of a $2 billion deal to export up to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil stuck in storage, U.S. president Donald Trump said China would not be deprived of Venezuela's crude.But the Asian country, the first market of the South American nation's oil…

The U.S. has seized the Olina tanker in the Caribbean, the fifth vessel targeted in recent weeks as Washington steps up efforts to curb Venezuelan oil exports, U.S. officials said on Friday.The Olina, which according to public shipping database Equasis was falsely flying the flag of Timor Leste, previously sailed from Venezuela and had returned to the region, said an industry source with direct knowledge of the matter.In a pre-dawn move, marines and sailors from Joint Task Force Southern Spear, launched from the carrier USS Gerald R.

A Russia-bound oil tanker suffered a drone attack in the Black Sea that prompted it to request Turkish coastguard assistance and divert from its course, according to a notice by Lloyd's List Intelligence and a separate maritime security source on Thursday.Maritime data specialist Lloyd's List Intelligence said the Palau-flagged Elbus vessel "experienced an unmanned marine-vehicle and drone attack" on Wednesday targeting its engine room, and that no injuries were reported among the 25 crew, nor any pollution.The security source described it as a drone attack, based on an assessment.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD0 announced on Wednesday that Britain had provided assistance to the United States during its operation to capture a "Russian flagged oil tanker" in the North Atlantic.After pursuing the tanker for over a month across the Atlantic, Washington was able to seize the vessel on Wednesday.Britain's armed forces provided "pre-planned operational support including basing," following a request from the United States for assistance.The report said that a naval vessel aided the U.S.

The U.S. seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker that was being shadowed by a Russian submarine on Wednesday, after pursuing it for more than two weeks across the Atlantic as part of Washington's efforts to block Venezuelan oil exports, U.S. officials said.It appeared to be the first time in recent memory that the U.S. military has seized a Russian-flagged vessel.The Marinera, originally known as the Bella-1, had previously slipped through a U.S. maritime blockade of sanctioned tankers in the Caribbean and rebuffed U.S. Coast Guard efforts to board it.

Russia said on Wednesday that the U.S. seizure of a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the Atlantic was a violation of maritime law, and a senior lawmaker described it as "outright piracy".Russia's Transport Ministry said contact with the vessel, the Marinera, had been lost after U.S. naval forces boarded it near Iceland as part of efforts to block oil exports from Venezuela."In accordance with the 1982 U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea, freedom of navigation applies in the high seas…

An oil tanker chartered by U.S. Chevron carrying some 300,000 barrels of Venezuelan heavy crude bound for the U.S. Gulf Coast departed on Monday from the OPEC country's waters, shipping data showed, after a four-day pause in the company's exports of Venezuelan oil.Chevron is the only company currently authorized by Washington to export Venezuelan crude amid an oil embargo that U.S. President Donald Trump said on Saturday remained in full force after the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.But amid U.S.

About a dozen tankers loaded with Venezuelan crude oil and fuel have left the country's waters in dark mode since the start of the year, according to documents seen by Reuters and industry sources including monitoring service TankerTrackers.com.The movements suggest a potential breaking of a strict blockade imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump before the dramatic capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro by U.S. troops in the early hours of Saturday morning. Trump said…

At least two oil tankers have made their way to Venezuela in recent days and others are navigating towards the country, a sign of state-run PDVSA's effort to expand floating storage and keep selling crude even as a U.S. blockade has reduced exports to a minimum.U.S. President Donald Trump this month announced a blockade of all sanctioned vessels going in or out of Venezuelan waters as part of a strategy to pressure Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The U.S. move has cut oil exports this month to about half of their November level.The U.S.

The U.S. Coast Guard is waiting for additional forces to arrive before potentially attempting to board and seize a Venezuela-linked oil tanker it has been pursuing since Sunday, a U.S. official and a source familiar with the matter told Reuters.The ship, which maritime groups have identified as the Bella 1, has refused to be boarded by the Coast Guard. That means that the task will likely fall to one of just two teams of specialists - known as Maritime Security Response Teams - who can board vessels under these circumstances…

U.S. Senator Ron Wyden has contacted seven maritime shipping companies as part of an inquiry into cartel-linked fuel smuggling between the United States and Mexico, asking the firms to explain their vetting procedures for ensuring their tankers aren't used to transport illicit hydrocarbons, according to copies of the letters seen by Reuters.The letters from Wyden, who is the most senior Democratic member of the Senate Finance Committee, were dated Friday. They come as stolen crude and bootleg fuel have become the second-largest revenue source for Mexican cartels after drugs…

Ukraine has struck a Russian "shadow fleet" oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea with aerial drones for the first time, an official said on Friday, reflecting the growing intensity of Kyiv's attacks on Russian oil shipping.The vessel - the Qendil - was empty when it was struck by drones in neutral waters more than 2,000 km (1,250 miles) from Ukraine, sustaining critical damage, the official at the SBU security service said in a written statement.The tanker was located off Libya's coast at 1330 GMT, MarineTraffic data showed.

Ukrainian drones hit a tanker in the southern Russian port of Rostov-on-Don, killing and injuring a number of people and sparking a fire, the city's mayor was quoted as saying early on Thursday."Emergency teams are extinguishing the fire on the tanker that was struck while docked in a drone attack," Russian news agencies quoted Skriabin as saying."A leak of oil products was avoided.

Delays for oil tankers passing through the Turkish Straits have climbed to about 12 days for a round trip to the Black Sea, up from about seven days last week, as winter storms, heightened security risks and shorter daylight hours snarl traffic, traders said and Riverlake data in LSEG showed.The congestion, which last exceeded 12 days in February, is being compounded by intensified security checks following recent attacks on tankers carrying Russian oil and strikes on port infrastructure in Novorossiysk…

The U.S. has seized a sanctioned oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday, a move that sent oil prices higher and sharply escalated tensions between Washington and Caracas"We've just seized a tanker on the coast of Venezuela, large tanker, very large, largest one ever, actually, and other things are happening," said Trump, who has been pressuring Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down.Asked what would happen with the oil, Trump said: "We keep it, I guess."Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility of U.S. military intervention in Venezuela.

Ukrainian sea drones on Wednesday hit and disabled a tanker involved in trading Russian oil as it sailed through Ukraine's exclusive economic zone in the Black Sea to the Russian port of Novorossiysk, a Ukrainian official said.The attack is the third sea drone strike in two weeks on vessels part of Russia's so-called "shadow fleet" - unregulated ships which Kyiv says are helping Moscow export large quantities of oil and fund its war in Ukraine despite Western sanctions.War insurance costs for ships sailing to the Black Sea have spiked…

Ukrainian naval drones hit two sanctioned tankers in the Black Sea as they headed to a Russian port to load up with oil destined for foreign markets, an official said on Saturday, as Kyiv tries to pile pressure on Russia's vast oil industry.The two oil tankers, identified as the Kairos and Virat, were empty and sailing to Novorossiysk, a major Russian Black Sea oil terminal, the official at the Security Service of Ukraine told Reuters.Naval drones could be seen speeding towards hulking tankers followed by powerful explosions that caused fires on the vessels…