Dubai: Two oil tankers were hit in suspected attacks in the Gulf of Oman, shipping firms and industry sources said Thursday, sending oil prices as much as four per cent higher a month after four other tankers were damaged by limpet mines in the same 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 was safe. The other tanker was adrift without any crew.
The Bahrain-based US 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 the incident 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.
The Norwegian Maritime Authority said three explosions were reported on board the ‘Front Altair’ after it was ‘attacked’ along with the Singapore-owned cargo carrier ‘Kokuka Courageous’.
Iranian state media said the first incident occurred on board the ‘Front Altair’ at 8.50am (local time, 0420 GMT) 25 nautical miles off Bandar-e-Jask in southern Iran.
“As the ship caught fire, 23 of the crew jumped into the water and were saved by a passing ship and handed over to the Iranian rescue unit,” the Iranian state media reported.
“An hour after the first accident the second ship caught fire at 9.50am (local time) 28 nautical miles off the port,” it added.
The Panama-flagged ‘Kokuka Courageous’ was headed to Singapore from Saudi Arabia with a cargo of methanol, and 21 of its crew jumped and were rescued, according to IRNA.
Singapore-based ‘BSM Ship Management’, which owns the ‘Kokuka Courageous’, said it had ‘launched a full-scale emergency response following a security incident’.
“The 21 crew of the vessel abandoned ship after the incident on board which resulted in damage to the ship’s hull starboard side,” the company informed. “One crew man from the ‘Kokuka Courageous’ was slightly injured in the incident and is receiving first aid,” it added.
Tehran said it has dispatched a helicopter from the port of Bandar-e-Jask to the ships’ location for ‘further investigation’.
Global oil prices gained around four per cent immediately after the reports of the attack. Benchmark Brent oil was trading at $61.74 a barrel, up about three per cent.
The Gulf of Oman lies at the other end of the strategic Strait of Hormuz from the Gulf, part of a vital shipping lane through which at least 15 million barrels of crude oil and hundreds of millions of dollars of non-oil imports pass.
It should be stated here that May 12, four oil tankers – two Saudi, one Norwegian and one Emirati – were damaged in still unexplained attacks in the Gulf of Oman off the United Arab Emirates.
US National Security Advisor John Bolton said Iranian naval mines were almost certainly behind those attacks but declined to provide specific evidence that Tehran was involved.
Thursday’s incident came after Iran-aligned Huthi rebels Wednesday said they had fired a missile at a Saudi airport. Saudi officials said 26 people were wounded in the attack on Ahba airport. Iran has repeatedly rejected accusations that it was behind the sabotage. But its arch rival, Saudi Arabia still maintains it was the most likely culprit.
Agencies