A support vessel flying an Iranian national flag sails alongside the oil tanker ‘Devon’ as it prepares to transport crude oil to export markets. IMAGE: Ali Mohammadi/Bloomberg
DHT Holdings and Heidmar, two of the biggest oil tankers operators in the world, have suspended new bookings to the Middle East and the Persian Gulf following the recent attack on two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman, three ship brokers told Reuters on June 14.
One of the sources told the news agency that the two companies had suspended offerings for their Suezmax vessels. Suezman is a naval architecture term for the largest ship measurements capable of transiting the Suez Canal in a laden condition.
DHT, based in Hamilton, Bermuda, has a fleet of 18 crude tankers including 14 very large crude carriers (VLCC), while Heidmar manages 65 oil tankers on behalf of ship owners.
The June 13 attack on Marshall Islands-flagged Front Altair and Panama-flagged Kokuka Courageous led to serious material loses for the ships operators. However, the crews of both tankers were rescued.
U.S. President Donald Trump held Iran responsible for the attack following the release of a video by the U.S. Army Central Command showing Iranian service members removing what is believed to be an exploded limpet mine from one of the tankers.
Other companies may follow the footsteps of DHT and Heidmar, especially if the attacks on oil tankers continue. Such a development would likely lead to the growth of oil prices. Iran is one of the key oil exporters. So, this could damage Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran.
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Seems like Iran does not need to block the Straits of Hormuz. The US/Israeli false flags are having the effect of scoring a self-goal.
The US is trying to raise the oil price, to prevent American shale oil producers defaulting on their loans. All wars are about money, and the US being the greediest nation on earth has the most wars.
Yes, but Gulf ‘allies’ are paying the price also through that blockage, although notably, Israel does not. Seems like a mixed-bag of benefits and the reverse from US perspective as ‘allies’ will not be happy. Russia will make up a lot of that Global deficit, so weakening Iran through this economic warfare by subterfuge also has its drawbacks from GC ‘grand chessboard’ perspective.
They won’t restrict the amount of oil anymore than is needed to keep WTI at 70 bucks, remember American oil companies make a lot of money selling Arab oil. The idea is not to restrict oil, just put fear into the markets to increase the price.
DC only plays checkers :}
Yeah, yeah, shoot at a ship, blame Iran, rinse and repeat… And btw it is Saudi that will benefit the most from a rise in oil price!
Actually it’s the US that needs a higher oil price, read this.
https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-06-13/trump-thinks-us-oil-his-strength-when-its-his-achilles-heel
and freight rates, great news for shipping, insured over the stack since in shipping you can insure the vessel 3 times or 10 time over the actual value as long as premiums are paid.
The article makes many valid points, but ignores the bigger picture. Yes the shale oil industry in US will definitely benefit from the higher oil price, but there are many more industries that will be massively damaged by a high oil price. Transport and manufacturing come to mind immediately. Companies will close, jobs will be lost – and remember these are Trump supporters. So no, US does not need the high oil price, but US shale oil industry does. But Saudi Arabia, that is completely dependent on oil exports needs it very badly at the moment, and it will only have a good effect on their one-sided economy. In fact they have been asking the Russians to lower their production recently so the world oil price can rise. So when it comes to the oil price it is a slam dunk that the Saudis benefit the most.
BOOM, BINGO,
The quality of the video was so poor that I couldn’t make out any identifiable insignia or what the sailors were doing. Either the video equipment is low quality or it was edited afterwards to degrade the quality. Either way it reflects poorly on the US military.
RT is reporting that one of the ship owners says that the vessel was hit by two flying objects.
The message of the attack seems to be don’t meet with Iran on a peace mission or your ships will be attacked.
abe was in iran on a mission to set up a meeting, a face saving meeting, for trump with khameini. it won’t happen but trump is desperate to show the world that he is a master negotiator (which he isn’t).
not to worry, these owners/operators will take new loadings in the persian gulf when the rates are up and the risk premium will be paid by the shippers. and that’s a fact of shipping.