A tanker operated by the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), the world’s most powerful energy industry giant owned by the state of the United Arab Emirates, was hit by a missile early Saturday morning as the vessel was sailing through the strategically vital Strait of Hormuz through the UAE’s energy infrastructure. In official statements from the UAE’s state-run news agency WAM and regional authorities, the brazen attack set off alarms which were followed up on by emergency response, but no casualties or serious injuries to the crew members aboard or even death was reported and the situation was brought under control immediately, according to the airline.
Though ADNOC's corporate briefings in the early days did not provide specifics on the exact vessel's identity, the exact cargo that was transported or how much damage was done, or that the damage to the ship was structural, senior UAE officials were quick to put it down to Iran. UAE Foreign Affairs strongly condemned what it said was a direct and hostile Iranian attack on a civilian energy tanker. Given the state of affairs in the region today, the ministry said that such a reckless act of aggression in a waterway of global trade and regional stability is a particularly dangerous one and it showed a clear threat to international trade.
This recent maritime strike comes as ADNOC issued a sobering operational note from its maritime operations and regional infrastructure. A company that has been suffering from repeated and unprovoked strikes against its shipping assets and personnel and operations has been affected by a number of them, in the global field, said in the report. In what corporate leadership described as a hostile and challenging environment ADNOC is committed to fulfillment of its contractual commitments with its clients.
According to the energy corporation, data of 15 vessels in its fleet have been attacked with hostile missiles and uncrewed aerial drones while crossing the narrow chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz since the outbreak of hostilities between Iran and the US-Israel coalition. Most worrying about these attacks, the company said that three of them have happened in a week. At the same time, the ongoing maritime security breach has taken a heavy human toll with one crew member being killed and twenty others injured.
The Strait of Hormuz is an essential global energy artery through which a vast amount of petroleum and liquefied natural gas is moved to international markets daily. The continuing increase in missile and drone attacks on commercial shipping and energy-related vessels has made international shipping through the Strait of Hormuz extremely anxious and threatens to cause severe choke-points in global energy supplies. As diplomatic channels are strained to the brink of war, the Strait of Hormuz is one of the key flashpoints in the region and fears of longer-term economic and security instability are growing.
