Oil Tanker Evades Gunfire Along Most Important Crude Route
Source: Bloomberg
By Anthony DiPaola Mar 31, 2014 11:35 AM ET
Armed men on a skiff fired shots at an oil tanker passing through the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s most important trade route for crude shipments.
Unidentified attackers fired twice with an assault rifle at the Aframax tanker Album at about 2:15 p.m. local time yesterday, said Abdul Shahid Khashan, acting security officer at the vessel’s owner Arab Marine Petroleum Transport Co. The attackers, who appeared to be fishermen, probably weren’t seeking to hijack the Album, which evaded the attack, he said.
A second tanker, the Stena Supreme, was approached by two skiffs in a separate incident yesterday, Lt. Commander David Benham, a spokesman for the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s Allied Maritime Command, said today. U.S. and European military authorities are investigating, he said.
The Strait of Hormuz, at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, is a transit channel for about 17 million barrels of crude daily, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, which ranks the trade lane as the world’s most important chokepoint for oil. NATO coordinates naval vessels to protect commercial ships from Somali pirates operating in the adjoining Indian Ocean and nearby Gulf of Aden.
Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-31/skiff-fires-at-oil-tanker-on-world-s-most-important-crude-route.html
