Page 13 - MEOG Week 31 2021

MEOG NEWS IN BRIEF MEOG

COMPANIES forces spokesman, denounced reports of were “working on the assumption Iranian
maritime incidents and hijacking in the military or proxies boarded the vessel”. read
Unforeseen delay knocks Gulf area as “a kind of psychological warfare more
and setting the stage for new bouts of
The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet and UAE
UK Oil & Gas share price adventurism,” the Fars News Agency said. authorities did not immediately reply to a
Two of the maritime sources identified the
Reuters request for comment.
UK Oil & Gas’ share prices headed south on seized vessel as the Panama-flagged asphalt/ Alluding to the reports, Saudi Arabia’s
August 2 after the company warned of an bitumen tanker Asphalt Princess in an area foreign minister told a U.S. think tank in an
unforeseen delay at the Basur-3 appraisal well in the Arabian Sea leading to the Strait of online appearance that he sees an emboldened
in Turkey, operated by Aladdin Middle East Hormuz, the conduit for about a fifth of the Iran acting in a negative manner in the region,
(AME). world’s seaborne oil exports. including endangering shipping. L1N2PA1RV
UKOG said AME is pausing drilling until The U.S. State Department said it was On Tuesday at least five ships in the sea
after the acquisition and processing of new concerned and looking into reports of a between the UAE and Iran updated their AIS
seismic data to ensure a sidetrack is optimally maritime incident in the Gulf of Oman, but tracking status to “Not Under Command”,
located at the site. AME has planned a that it was too early to offer a judgment. according to Refinitiv ship tracking data. Such
sidetrack hole to test the Garzan and Mardin Britain’s foreign ministry was “urgently a status generally indicates a ship is unable to
targets, as the hole section that contains investigating” an incident on a vessel off the manoeuvre due to exceptional circumstances.
the targets has been deemed unsuitable for UAE coast, a spokesperson said. read more Nour News, affiliated with Iran’s top
onward drilling, according to Dow Jones U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of national security body, quoted a senior
Newswires. anonymity, said the United States military was navy official as saying “the movement of
“We concur with AME that the most considering repositioning at least one vessel in commercial vessels is quite normal and no
prudent course of action is to pause the general vicinity of the Asphalt Princess to official naval sources or countries in the
commencing the sidetrack until new modern keep a closer eye. Persian Gulf have reported any incidents”.
seismic can be incorporated to further derisk The officials said this would not be Iran’s foreign ministry said the reports of
drilling and help achieve our objective,” uncommon and would be to monitor the maritime incidents were “suspicious” and
UKOG CEO Stephen Sanderson said. situation rather than to make any imminent warned against any effort to create a “false
UKOG holds a 50% interest in the project. military moves. atmosphere” against Tehran. read more
BNE Tensions have simmered in the region after The United States and Britain said on
an attack last week on an Israeli-managed Sunday they would work with their allies to
tanker off the Omani coast killed two crew respond to last week’s attack on the Mercer
OIL members and was blamed on Iran by the Street, a Liberian-flagged, Japanese-owned
United States, Israel and Britain. Iran has petroleum product tanker managed by Israeli-
Iran denies reports of denied responsibility. read more owned Zodiac Maritime.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade
Iran denied any involvement in that
seizing tanker Operations (UKMTO), in a warning notice suspected drone strike and said it would
based on a third-party source, had earlier
respond to any threat against its security.
Iranian-backed forces are believed to have reported a “potential hijack” and advised Britain, Romania and Liberia told the
seized an oil tanker in the Gulf off the coast ships to exercise extreme caution due to the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday
of the United Arab Emirates, three maritime incident around 60 nautical miles east of the that it was “highly likely” that Iran used one
security sources said, after Britain’s maritime UAE’s Fujairah emirate. or more drones to carry out a deadly tanker
trade agency reported a “potential hijack” in The Times of London newspaper also attack last week off the coast of Oman. read
the area on Tuesday. reported that the Asphalt Princess had been more
Abolfazl Shekarchi, Iran’s senior armed hijacked, citing British sources as saying they U.S. officials have said privately they are

Week 31 04•August•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P13