Tanker

Pirates have seized an oil tanker carrying 17 crew members off Somalia’s coast, multiple security officials told the BBC, in a brazen reminder of a menace once thought to be fading in the region. The vessel, Honour 25, was taken over late on Wednesday by six armed men when it was about 30 nautical miles offshore, the officials said. For years, this stretch of the Indian Ocean was synonymous with pirate attacks, but until three years ago such incidents had largely vanished. Since then, however, piracy has returned, with…

Saturday April 25, 2026 An oil tanker was left under guard after being freed, a stark reminder of how quickly piracy can again unsettle the waters off Somalia. Somali pirates have hijacked four ships in the past month.Credit...Abdiqani Hassan/Reuters Mogadishu (AX) — Somali pirates seized an oil tanker carrying 18,500 barrels of fuel and 17 crew members off Somalia’s northeastern coast, officials said Friday. The ship, identified as Honour 25, was taken late Wednesday by at least six armed men roughly 30 nautical miles…

A tanker loaded with Russian diesel is expected to reach crisis‑hit Cuba “in several days” after employing evasive tactics to get to the island, which is under a US fuel blockade, according to a maritime tracker. Maritime intelligence firm Windward said that if the vessel docks, it would mark the first confirmed delivery of refined products to the island since early January. Windward had earlier indicated the Hong Kong-flagged Sea Horse had “likely” discharged about 190,000 barrels of Russian diesel in Cuba in early March,…

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Russia accused Ukraine of using naval drones to attack and sink a Russian liquefied natural gas carrier off Libya, an incident that, if confirmed, would mark the first known strike by Kyiv on a Russian LNG vessel. Libya’s port authority said the Arctic Metagaz tanker suffered “sudden explosions followed by a massive fire,” leading to its complete sinking overnight. The vessel went down roughly 130 nautical miles north of Sirte, within Libya’s search-and-rescue zone, the authority said. Russia’s Transport Ministry said the…

U.S. forces have seized a Russian-flagged oil tanker in the North Atlantic for alleged sanctions violations tied to Venezuelan crude, capping a multiweek pursuit that unfolded under the eye of nearby Russian naval assets but ended without confrontation, U.S. officials said. U.S. European Command, which oversees American forces in the region, said the operation was conducted jointly with the Department of Homeland Security. The tanker evaded an earlier boarding attempt near Venezuela and was intercepted as it moved north in…

U.S. forces “apprehended” an oil tanker off Venezuela early Wednesday, the latest move in a stepped-up pressure campaign against Caracas that has increasingly played out at sea. It was the second tanker interdicted in two weeks and follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement of a blockade targeting “sanctioned oil vessels” heading to and leaving Venezuela. “In a pre-dawn action early this morning on Dec 20, the US Coast Guard with the support of the Department of War apprehended an oil tanker that was last docked in…

Ukraine says it struck a Russian “shadow fleet” tanker with aerial drones in the Mediterranean, its first attack in those waters since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion nearly four years ago. A source in Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) described the operation as “new, unprecedented,” saying it took place in neutral waters roughly 2,000 kilometers from Ukraine’s borders. The source said the targeted vessel, identified as the QENDIL, was empty at the time, sustained “critical damage” and “cannot be used for its intended…

US to bring seized tanker to American port, vows to take its oil; Venezuela decries ‘piracy’ as Russia signals support The United States will bring an oil tanker seized off Venezuela to a US port and intends to confiscate the crude aboard, the White House said Thursday, signaling Washington could target additional sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters the operation, carried out by the US military a day earlier, is part of a broader effort to disrupt illicit energy flows…

U.S. seizes Venezuelan oil tanker in helicopter raid, to bring ship to American port as tensions spike with Maduro U.S. forces seized a sanctioned oil tanker off Venezuela in a helicopter-borne operation and will bring the vessel to a U.S. port to confiscate its cargo, the White House said, escalating a fast-moving standoff with President Nicolás Maduro’s government. The dramatic interdiction—described by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem as aimed at the “regime” in Caracas—was captured in video released by U.S.…