Page 9 - MEOG Week 20

MEOG PIPeLInes & trAnsPort MEOG
UK-flagged tanker rebuffs attack in the Gulf of Aden
yemen
ARMED pirates attacked a British-flagged chemical tanker in the Gulf of Aden on Sunday but were repulsed, said the ship’s manager, Stolt Tankers.
The pirates approached the Stolt Apal in two speedboats some 75 nautical miles (139 km) off Yemen, it said, in one of the most important trade routes for oil heading from the Middle East to Europe.
“After multiple warning shots were fired by the armed guard team on board Stolt Apal, the skiffs opened fire on the ship. The armed guard team returned fire, disabling one skiff and end- ing the pursuit,” a company spokesman told Reu- ters in emailed comments.
“A coalition warship [also] responded and Stolt Apal has resumed her voyage,” the spokes- man said.
he did not specify which coalition was meant, but maritime security sources said the vessel had been sailing through a transit corridor patrolled by international naval forces due to the high risk of attack.
The spokesman said the ship’s bridge had sustained minor damage from bullets, but that there were no injuries. None of the ship’s cargo was damaged.
British officials were not immediately availa- ble for comment. Stolt Tankers is a subsidiary of Norwegian listed Stolt-Nielsen.
Merchant ships have been attacked in recent years in the Gulf of Aden and the Bab al-Mandab waterway by armed gangs as well as groups such as al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.
A Saudi-led military coalition has, in the past, accused Yemen’s Iran-aligned houthi move- ment, which it has been battling for five years, of trying to attack vessels off the coast of Yemen with unmanned boats laden with explosives.
Maritime security firm Dryad Global said it was the ninth reported incident in the Gulf of Aden this year.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Oper- ations naval authority states in a warning notice on its website that it advises vessels in the area “to exercise extreme caution”.™
PoLICy
Iran warns US against any move on Venezuelan fuel shipments
IrAn
AN Iranian news agency close to the elite Revo- lutionary Guards said on Saturday there would be repercussions if the United States acted “just like pirates” against an Iranian fuel shipment to Venezuela.
A senior official in President Donald Trump’s administration told Reuters on Thursday that the US was considering measures it could take in response to Iran’s shipment of fuel to cri- sis-stricken Venezuela.
The oil sectors of Iran and Venezuela, mem- bers of OPEC, are both subject to US sanctions. The Trump administration official declined to specify the measures being considered but said options would be presented to the president.
“If the United States, just like pirates, intends to create insecurity on international waterways, it would be taking a dangerous risk and that will certainly not go without repercussion,” Iran’s Nour news agency said.
At least one tanker carrying fuel loaded at an Iranian port has set sail for Venezuela, according
to vessel-tracking data from Refinitiv Eikon on Wednesday, which could help ease an acute scar- city of gasoline in the South American country.
“Venezuela and Iran are both independent states that have had and will continue to have trade relations with each other,” Iranian gov- ernment spokesman Ali Rabiei was quoted as saying by the YJC news website, linked to Iran’s state broadcaster.
“We sell goods and buy goods in return. This trade has nothing to do with anyone else. We have to sell our oil and we have ways to do it,” Rabiei said, adding that he had no information about the Venezuela-bound vessel.
Separately, a hardline Iranian analyst sug- gested Iran might retaliate against US vessels in the Gulf if Washington took action against the Iranian tanker.
“The US Navy and its allies in the Persian Gulf are hostages to any kind of violation against Iran’s legal international shipping,” Mahdi Moham- madi said on Twitter.
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