Oil Tanker News

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.

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.