u/GovernmentGoblin

Two tankers were attacked on 11 October, one in the strait of Hormuz and the other at the Sohar anchorage offshore Oman, Indian ports, shipping and waterways minister Sarbananda Sonowal said.

The 149,997dwt Suezmax tanker Valtherawas hit by an unknown projectile, causing a fire on board, Sonowal said. The vessel was carrying crude from Basrah, Iraq, having sailed on 8 October, Vortexa data show.

The UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) had earlier said that an outbound tanker transiting the strait of Hormuz had been struck by a projectile, causing damage to the vessel.

The 3,922dwt small oil products tanker Petro Dolphin was hit by a drone at the Sohar anchorage on 11 October, Sonowal said. Two Indian seafarers are missing, according to the minister.

UKMTO had earlier said that a tanker at the Sohar anchorage had been hit by an aerial drone.
"India reiterates the need for immediate de-escalation and a resolution to the ongoing conflict through dialogue and diplomacy," the Indian foreign ministry said following the two incidents. "Attacks on commercial vessels, seafarers and civilian infrastructure must cease. Freedom of navigation and the safe, unimpeded flow of maritime commerce through international waterways, in accordance with international law, must be upheld."

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' (IRGC) navy claimed "a supertanker" had struck a naval mine after sailing through the strait of Hormuz with its navigation systems switched off on Sunday. Footage of the incident did not clearly resemble a mine explosion, and the circumstances of the incident and the cause of the fire were unconfirmed at publishing time.

"All ships within the limits of the Strait of Hormuz that turn off their navigation and identification systems will be identified as hostile and will be dealt with severely and decisively," state news agency Isna said, quoting the IRGC Navy.

Isna claimed there were three incidents over the weekend of tankers transiting "unauthorized shipping lanes" colliding with naval mines in the Strait of Hormuz, but none of the incidents has yet been independently confirmed.

Russia has just struck the CHP-5 power plant in Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest combined heat and power plant, breaking the US energy ceasefire just hours after Trump announced it.

Zelensky confirms the strike, saying "Just now there was a strike on CHP-5 in the city of Kharkiv."

Trump announced today "Effective immediately, there is an ENERGY CEASEFIRE in the War between Russia and Ukraine. Both parties have agreed. Do not break it!”

The US Department of Transportation finalized its plans today to weaken fuel efficiency standards, calling it “among the largest deregulatory actions under the second Trump Administration.”

It’s a nail in the coffin for Biden-era standardsthat would have required fleet average fuel economy to reach 50.4 miles per gallon by model year 2031. President Donald Trump’s plan requires 34.9 miles per gallon, not much higher than the 30.1-mile-per-gallon target previously set for model year 2024.

Automakers are pretty happy with the new rules.

But consumer advocacy, health, and environmental groups are incensed. They argue that weaker fuel economy standards will wind up making Americans pay more at the pump, on top of increased healthcare costs and damages from climate change due to air pollution.

The Biden administration’s standards that Trump trashed were expected to save $23 billion in fuel costs, and a car owner more than $600 in gasoline over the lifetime of a vehicle.

“For decades, fuel economy standards have ensured that new cars, SUVs and pickup trucks are more efficient, which saves lives and money,” the American Lung Association’s president and CEO, Harold Wimmer, said in an emailed statement. “There is no reason to weaken standards that are technologically feasible and have a direct benefit for the quality of the air people breathe.”

Since disruption to oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz following the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, OPEC’s leading oil exporter has been using the pipeline to reroute around 4 million barrels per day around 4% of global supply to Yanbu.

The pipeline is pumping ⁠at an extremely low rate after its restart, two sources said.

State oil firm Saudi Aramco did not respond to a request for comment.

One of the sources ‌said Aramco was seeking to get the pumping rate back to its original 4 million bpd, while a security source said full resumption could take weeks.

Saudi’s Aramco continues to halt all crude oil supply to European refiners, despite pipeline startup.

The pipeline will resume whatever crude supply is available to Aramco ⁠refineries located on the Red Sea coast, one of the sources said, adding that essentially all cargo was scheduled to load at ⁠Yanbu later on ‌Tuesday. The person said it would all be bound ⁠for China.

On Monday, Trump said the whole world was suffering due to an energy shortage that he said was being exacerbated by the war in Ukraine.

Trump directly addressed Zelenskyy, saying he has to do “one thing: he has to stop knocking out diesel fuel in Russia”.

“Let him go after targets but not diesel fuel, because he’s causing a shortage,” he said.

Trump last week prematurely announced an energy ceasefire under which Ukraine had agreed not to hit Russian energy targets and that “Russia has agreed to do likewise!” The deal had not been agreed, however, and Russian strikes against Ukrainian energy and other critical infrastructure have continued.

Of the 925 worldwide VLCC tankers, 25% of all the know VLCCs operate under a “dark fleet.” Sanctioned tankers for Iran, Venezuela, Russia and China.

The tanker market was tight even before the first bombs fell on Tehran on Feb. 28. It suffered from years of underinvestment, in part due to unfounded warnings that oil demand was about to peak, which scared some shipowners out of ordering new vessels. Then the pandemic hit, prompting fewer orders and depressing VLCC rates. In 2022, global shipyards delivered the fewest supertankers in three decades. The seeds of crisis were sown.

Earlier this year, shipowners would have considered $100,000 a day a superb price and $50,000 a good one. Poten & Partners, a shipbroker that prides itself on being old-fashioned, couldn't hide its amazement at today's rates, telling clients recently: "Even seasoned market veterans are looking at current developments in the market and scratching their heads. What's happening is truly unprecedented."

The $1-million-a-day price tag reflects the danger of crossing the Hormuz waterway and the fact that few shipowners are willing to take the risk. But costs elsewhere, even far from the Middle East, have also ballooned.

The route from the Gulf of Mexico to Asia is about $338,000 a day, up 400% from a year ago; from West Africa to China stands at about $486,000 a day, an increase of nearly 500%.