DUBAI: Pirates yesterday attacked and took control of Saudi Aramco’s largest crude carrier Sirius Star off the east coast of Africa.
The vessel, which came under attack more than 450 nautical miles southeast of Mombasa, Kenya, was heading toward the coast of Somalia when last reports came in.
“According to the latest report we have, the ship is approaching the Somali coast, heading toward Eyl port,” said a spokeswoman for the Bahrain-based US Fifth Fleet. “Can we assume that the pirates are Somalis? Yes.”
The spokeswoman said she had no confirmation of a report on Al-Arabiya television that control of the supertanker had been regained from the pirates.
Another Fifth Fleet spokesman called the attack unprecedented. “It’s the largest ship that we’ve seen pirated,” said Lt. Nathan Christensen. “It’s three times the size of an aircraft carrier.”
There were no reports of damage to the ship, Christensen added. He declined to say if the US Navy was considering taking action to rescue the supertanker, which had a total of 25 crew members from Croatia, Britain, the Philippines, Poland and Saudi Arabia. “We are evaluating the situation,” he said.
“Our presence in the region is helping deter and disrupt criminal attacks off the Somali coast, but the situation with the Sirius Star clearly indicates the pirates’ ability to adapt their tactics and methods of attack,” said Vice Adm. Bill Gortney of the US Navy.
The Dubai-based Vela International, which is the shipping unit of Saudi Aramco, said the supertanker was fully laden at the time of its hijacking. The Sirius Star held as much as two million barrels of oil — more than one quarter of Saudi Arabia’s daily exports — worth over $100 million.
“Vela response teams have been mobilized and are working to ensure the safe release of crew members and the supertanker,” Vela International said in a statement. The Sirius Star had been heading for the United States, it added.
The International Maritime Bureau has reported that at least 83 ships have been attacked off Somalia since January, of which 33 were hijacked. Of those, 12 vessels and more than 200 crew are still in the hands of the pirates.
Pirates are well organized in the area where Somalia’s northeastern tip juts into the Indian Ocean, preying on a key maritime route leading to the Suez Canal through which an estimated 30 percent of the world’s oil transits. They operate high-powered speedboats and are heavily armed, sometimes holding ships for weeks until they are released for large ransoms paid by governments or owners.
NATO warships, along with ships and aircraft from several other nations, have been deployed in the region to protect commercial shipping.
However, Norwegian shipping company Odfjell said yesterday it would no longer sail through the pirate-plagued Gulf of Aden, choosing instead the longer, more expensive but also safer route around South Africa’s Cape of Good Hope.
Only last week, the European Union started a security operation off the coast of Somalia, north of Kenya, to combat growing acts of piracy and protect ships carrying aid agency deliveries. It is the EU’s first-ever naval mission.
Dubbed Operation Atlanta, the mission, endorsed by the bloc’s defense ministers at talks in Brussels, is being led by Britain, with its headquarters in Northwood, near London.
The hijacking had an immediate impact on the world oil markets. US crude traded up 39 cents to $57.43, after touching a low of $55.29 earlier.
Last Thursday, crude reached a low of $54.67, its weakest since January 2007. London Brent crude rose 27 cents to $54.51 a barrel.
