Dubai - Two oil tankers were hit in
suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman, shipping firms and
industry sources said on Thursday, sending oil prices as much as
4% higher a month after four other tankers were damaged by
limpet mines in the region.
One of the tankers, the Front Altair, carrying a cargo of
petrochemical feedstock, was ablaze in waters between Gulf Arab
states and Iran.
Iran's state news agency said it had sunk, although the
Norwegian owner had said it was afloat and its crew were safe.
The other tanker was adrift without any crew.
The Bahrain-based U.S. Navy Fifth Fleet said it was
assisting the tankers after receiving distress calls. The United
Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, part of Britain's Royal Navy,
said it was investigating with its partners.
Full details about Thursday's incident were not immediately
clear. The firm which chartered one of the vessels said it
suspected a torpedo had hit the ship, while a source said the
other might have been damaged by a magnetic mine.
An investigation blamed limpet mines for last month's
attacks on four tankers. Saudi Arabia and the United States
blamed Iran for those attacks, a charge Tehran denies.
Oil prices surged as much as 4% after Thursday's
news. The region was already on edge following attacks in May on
Gulf oil assets that occurred amid a dispute between Iran and
the United States over Tehran's nuclear programme.
The Gulf of Oman lies at the entrance to the Strait of
Hormuz, a major strategic waterway through which a fifth of
global oil consumption passes from Middle East producers.
There was no immediate confirmation of Thursday's incident
from authorities in Oman or the United Arab Emirates, in whose
territorial waters the four tankers were hit in May.
Saudi Arabia and the UAE have said attacks on oil assets in
the Gulf pose a risk to global oil supplies and regional
security.
Debris from the Saudi-owned oil tanker Amjad off the coast of Fujairah, United Arab Emirates. A joint statement released by Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Norway said the damage done to the four oil tankers off the UAE likely came from limpet mines placed by a "state actor" amid US and Saudi allegations Iran carried out the sabotage. Picture: United Arab Emirates' Mission to the United Nations via AP
CREW SAFE
Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement said its tanker Kokuka
Courageous was damaged in a "suspected attack" that breached the
hull above the water line while transporting methanol from Saudi
Arabia to Singapore.
"The ship is safely afloat," it said in a statement, adding
that its crew were safe with one minor injury reported.
A shipping broker said there had been an explosion
"suspected from an outside attack" that may have involved a
magnetic mine on the Kokuka Courageous. "Kokuka Courageous is
adrift without any crew on board,” the source said.
Japanese shipping firm Kokuka Sangyo, owner of the Kokuka
Courageous, said its ship had been hit twice over a three-hour
period.
Taiwan's state oil refiner CPC said tanker Front Altair,
owned by Norway's Frontline, was "suspected of being
hit by a torpedo" around 0400GMT, as it carried 75,000 tonnes of
the petrochemical feedstock naphtha to Taiwan. It said the crew
were safe.
Frontline said its vessel was on fire, but still afloat,
although the Iranian news agency IRNA later said the vessel had
sunk. However, there was no immediate independent confirmation.
The Front Altair loaded its cargo from Ruwais in the UAE,
according to trade sources and shipping data on Refinitiv Eikon.
Another source said the Front Altair reported a fire caused
by a "surface attack" and that the crew had been picked up by
nearby vessel Hyundai Dubai.
Iran's state news agency IRNA reported that Iranian search
and rescue teams had picked up 44 sailors from two damaged
tankers and had taken them to the Iranian port of Jask.
Thursday's suspected attacks came a day after Yemen's
Iran-aligned Houthis fired a missile on an airport in Saudi
Arabia, injuring 26 people. The Houthis also claimed an armed
drone strike last month on Saudi oil pumping stations.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, speaking during a visit
to Iran on Wednesday, urged all sides not to let tensions
escalate. He met Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Thursday.