Two oil tankers and a tugboat caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said on Thursday, as Iran continues to report a growing number of incidents with vessels trying to transit the Strait on routes unauthorized by the Islamic Republic.
One of the oil tankers hit a naval mine while it was attempting to move south of the Strait. Another tanker caught fire as it was on its way out in the eastern part of the Strait, and a tugboat that had approached it to help also caught fire, according to Iran’s elite force.
Separately, UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which is affiliated with the Royal Navy, said on Thursday that it had received a report of an incident 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, in which a tanker has been struck by two unidentified projectiles. The status of the crew, damage assessment, and environmental impact are unconfirmed at present, UKMTO said early on Thursday.
Attacks on vessels in the region have intensified in recent weeks, while crude oil flows have dipped from recent highs.
IRGC on Wednesday said that four oil tankers were destroyed after hitting naval mines in an area south of the Strait of Hormuz proscribed by Iran as prohibited for navigation.
While flows have recovered substantially from the lows in the spring, the security situation in and near the Strait of Hormuz has actually deteriorated, with a higher number of attacks on tankers in recent weeks.
Following a post-war peak in September, exports of crude oil, condensate, and fuels from the Middle East slipped to 17.1 million barrels per day (bpd) in October, down from 18.9 million bpd in September, according to data from Vortexa cited by Reuters.
Yet, the tanker-tracking services caution that the numbers could be revised up as more details on shipments, especially shuttle shipments, emerge in the coming days. Tanker-trackers increasingly rely on satellite imagery to confirm movements because vessels are often switching off transponders to avoid detection when transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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