INTERTANKO is delighted that the Irene SL has been released by the Somali pirates who hijacked this tanker and her 2m barrel oil cargo in February, and that Master, officers and crew are in good health after 58 days in captivity – especially after 12 days being used as a pirate mothership. At the time INTERTANKO’s Managing Director Joe Angelo remarked that the Irene SL hijacking marked a significant shift in Somali piracy, taking the crisis into the middle of the main sea lanes coming from the Middle East Gulf. Her crude oil cargo represented 20% of total U.S.