2 Tanker ships carrying Naphtha and
Methanol caught fire and crews were rescued. The tankers didn’t sink and fire
fighters are putting out the fires. The fires were caused by explosive mines
and rockets, likely from Iran.
The ship carrying Methanol the “Kokuka Courageous” owned by BSM Ship Management. All
21 crew members were saved. There was minor damage to the hull and the cargo is
intact. The ship was hit 14 nautical miles from Iran’s coast.
Methanol is a wood alcohol (CH3OH)
that can be used as a renewable energy, marine and auto fuel, and as fuel
cells. Methanol is a versitile chemical.
Tankers On Fire In Gulf Of Oman After
Suspected Attack, by Scott Neuman, 6/13/19. NPR.
Gulf
of Oman tankers attacked, By Eliza Mackintosh, Helen Regan and Vasco Cotovio, CNN, 6/13/19.
The ship carrying Naphtha is the “Front
Altair” owned by Norwegian shipping company Frontline. All 23 crew members were
saved
Naphtha is a flammable liquid made from distilling petroleum.
It looks like gasoline. Naphtha is used to dilute heavy oil to help move it through
pipelines, to make high-octane gas,
to make lighter fluid, and even to clean metal.
Four other commercial
ships sustained serious damage in May 2019. The U.S. said they were hit by
Iranian mines.
The last reported
position for both vessels, as tracked by the website VesselFinder, placed them in proximity to each other. Both vessels were near
the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow choke point separating the Gulf of Oman from
the Persian Gulf.
Iran has repeatedly
threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to U.S. sanctions over
Tehran's nuclear weapons program.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
said Iran is responsible for the attacks on two ships in the Gulf of Oman on
6/13/19.
“It is the assessment by the United
States government that the Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for the
attacks that occurred in the Gulf of Oman today," Pompeo told reporters at
the US State Department.
He
continued: "This assessment is based on
intelligence, the weapons used, the level of expertise needed to execute the
operation, recent similar Iranian attacks on shipping, and the fact that no
proxy group operating in the area has the resources and proficiency to act with
such a high degree of sophistication."
Attack
was "well-planned and coordinated," tanker owners' association says.
The two tankers were both hit "at or below the waterline, in close
proximity to the engine room while underway," according to the
International Association of Independent Tanker Owners (Intertanko).
The crew of
USS Bainbridge reported that they saw an unexploded limpet mine on the side of
one of the ships.
A limpet
mine is a floating magnetic and is attaches to side of a hull using
magnets.
Limpet mines
were also suspected d to be used in the May attack on four oil tankers off the coast of the United
Arab Emirates. The UAE concluded that
a "state
actor" is the most likely culprit and chemical analysis of the debris
recovered in May revealed "it was highly likely that limpet mines' were
deployed."
3
explosions were reported on the Front Altair
A second
vessel, the Japanese-owned chemical tanker, "Kokura Courageous" was "attacked"
twice "with some sort of shell", the ship's co-manager Michio Yuube
said.
Past
oil tanker attacks: In May, four
oil tankers were attacked off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, an
incident that the US suspected was the responsibility of Iran.
The
Panama-flagged Kokuka Courageous, a tanker owned by a Japan-based company, was
en route to Singapore.
The
Marshall Islands-flagged Front Altair, an oil tanker owned by a Bermuda-based
Norwegian firm, was en route to Taiwan.
In the
incident on May 12, four ships were at anchor in the UAE port of Fujairah, a
few kilometers from the coast, when they were apparently hit by mines or
improvised explosive devices likely attached to their hulls overnight. The
attacks caused no injuries and no evacuation. They were, essentially, pin-prick
strikes, a subtle message. The US and Saudi Arabia suspect Iran was behind
those attacks though no evidence of its involvement has been presented.
The two
tankers involved in today's suspected attacks were some 70 kilometers from the
UAE, closer to the Iranian coast. One of them was hit above the water line by
what witnesses described as “some sort of shell," The other ship caught on
fire following an explosion.
Comment
Attacks on Tankers
increases costs and discourages the use of Tankers. It encourages trade by
continent further limiting transport of Middle East oil by Tanker.
Countermeasures need
to be deployed to neutralize the threat to Tankers using mine detection and
anti-missile missiles.
Iran likely sabotaged
their competitors to create a shortage of heavy crude, so they could sell it
and regain some of the revenue they lost due to US sanctions.
Norb Leahy, Dunwoody
GA Tea Party Leader
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