A tanker was struck by an unidentified projectile while sailing out of the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center (UKMTO) said. It was the second incident the agency reported in the waterway that day.
UKMTO said a company security officer reported that the vessel was hit during an outbound transit at 1600 GMT. No injuries to the crew and no environmental impact were reported, it said.
The agency did not name the tanker, give its flag or cargo, or say where the projectile came from. It urged ships in the area to transit with caution and report suspicious activity.
Fire off Khasab
Earlier on Thursday, UKMTO said the master of a third-party vessel had reported seeing another vessel on fire 9 nautical miles north of Khasab, in Oman’s Musandam governorate, Anadolu Agency reported.
Regional authorities later identified that vessel as a traditional dhow, which sank, Iraq’s Shafaq News reported, citing an update from UKMTO.
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said on Thursday that three oil tankers had struck naval mines and caught fire over the previous 24 hours while using an unauthorized route through the strait, according to Shafaq News. The Guards did not identify the tankers.
US Central Command said on Wednesday that American forces had cleared the internationally recognized shipping lanes in the strait of naval mines, and rejected Iranian reports that commercial vessels had hit mines.
Oil prices
Brent crude futures settled down 44 cents, or 0.38%, at $114.88 a barrel on Thursday, Reuters reported. US West Texas Intermediate crude settled down 78 cents, or 0.76%, at $102.
The strait, which separates the Arabian Peninsula from Iran, is about 21 nautical miles wide at its narrowest point. Around a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil trade passes through it.
