An oil tanker has suffered an explosion off Libya’s coast, without causing any injuries or pollution, the vessel operator said on Monday, adding that the cause of the explosion is not clear yet.
The ship that carried about 1 million barrels of crude oil sustained a blast on June 27, a spokesperson for operator TMS Tankers told Reuters on Monday.
The tanker had left the Libyan port of Zuetina and was en route to Gibraltar when an explosion occurred in the engine room.
The Vilamoura, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, is currently being towed to Greece, with an estimated time of arrival on July 2, according to TMS Tankers. Damage will be assessed upon arrival at a Greek port.
No personnel have been injured and no oil spills or other pollution have been reported so far, according to the vessel operator.
The cause of the explosion is not clear yet, TMS Tankers told Bloomberg on Monday.
The news website speculated that the still unexplained blast at the Vilamoura could fit in a pattern of the past few months, in which tankers that have previously called at Russian ports have suffered mysterious explosions after leaving Russian terminals.
The Vilamoura picked up crude from Kazakhstan at two Russian oil ports in each of the months of April and May, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg.
Since the beginning of this year, four vessels, apart from the Vilamoura, have suffered unexplained explosions, maritime risk consultancy company Vanguard Tech told Bloomberg. All four tankers had recently called at a Russian oil port, according to Vanguard Tech.
Following the mysterious explosions aboard several tankers that have called on Russian ports, tanker owners and operators have started checking the hulls of the vessels for mines, Bloomberg reports.
In the case of the most recent unexplained blast on the Vilamoura, the explosion caused a flooding in the engine room, a TMS Tankers spokesperson told Bloomberg, adding that everyone on board was safe.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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