Illegal Oil News

Environmental groups on Tuesday will ask a Norwegian court to block the development of three North Sea oil and gas fields, citing insufficient assessment of global climate impact from future petroleum use.The lawsuit filed by Greenpeace and its partner Nature and Youth concerns the Equinor-operated Breidablikk and Aker BP's Yggdrasil and Tyrving fields, which hold combined reserves of some 875 million barrels of oil equivalent.The two NGOs in 2020 lost a case against Arctic drilling at Norway's top court…

Indonesia's coast guard said on Tuesday it seized an Iranian-flagged supertanker suspected of involvement in the illegal transshipment of crude oil, and vowed to toughen maritime patrols.The MT Arman 114 was carrying 272,569 metric tons of light crude oil, valued at 4.6 trillion rupiah ($304 million), when it was seized last week, the Indonesian authorities said.The Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) was suspected of transferring oil to another vessel without a permit on Friday, the Southeast Asian nation's maritime security agency said.The vessel was captured after being spotted in Indonesia's North Natuna Sea, carrying out a ship-to-ship oil transfer with the Cameroon-flagged MT S Tinos, the agency's chief, Aan Kurnia, said.

The Indonesian Navy says it has seized a Panamanian-flagged tanker in the waters off Riau islands after the foreign vessel was found to be carrying more than 4,000 tons of oil without valid permits.Indonesian Navy commander admiral Arsyad Abdullah said in a statement late Wednesday that the Panamanian-flagged tanker, the MT Zodiac Star, was seized on suspicion of conducting illegal activities in the country's waters.The Navy said the Panamanian-flagged tanker was carrying 4,600 tons of ‘black oil’, suspected of being waste, without a port clearance or a valid permit to transport dangerous goods.“The Navy will not hesitate to take action against all forms of legal violations that occur in Indonesian waters…

The Iranian and Panamanian-flagged vessels seized by Indonesian authorities for suspected illegal oil transfers are making their way to dock at Batam island in the country’s Riau Islands Province for further investigation, a Indonesia coast guard spokesman told Reuters.The two supertankers, with crew members from Iran and China, were seized on Sunday in Indonesian waters near Kalimantan island. The MT Horse, owned by the National Iranian Tanker Company and MT Freya, managed by Shanghai Future Ship Management Co, had a total of 61 crew members onboard.“The ships will arrive in Batam at around 3pm (0600GMT) to 4pm later today,” Wisnu Pramandita…

Iran has asked Indonesia to provide details about the seizure of an Iranian-flagged vessel, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said on Monday, a day after Jakarta said it had seized Iran and Panama-flagged tankers in its waters.Indonesia said on Sunday its coast guard had seized the Iranian-flagged MT Horse and the Panamanian-flagged MT Freya vessels over suspected illegal oil transfer in the country’s waters.Khatibzadeh said that the seizure was over a “a technical issue and it happens in shipping field”.“Our Ports Organisation and the ship owner company are looking to find the cause of the issue and resolve it,” Khatibzadeh told a televised weekly news conference.Coast guard spokesman Wisnu Pramandita said the tankers…

Indonesia said its coast guard seized the Iranian-flagged MT Horse and the Panamanian-flagged MT Freya vessels over suspected illegal oil transfer in the country's waters on Sunday.Coast guard spokesman Wisnu Pramandita said the tankers, seized in waters off Kalimantan province, will be escorted to Batam island in Riau Island Province for further investigation."The tankers, first detected at 5:30 a.m. local time (2130 GMT on Jan. 23) concealed their identity by not showing their national flags…

The captain of a Vietnamese oil tanker has been jailed for over five years in Singapore for his role in a scheme that saw around $150 million of oil stolen from Shell's biggest refinery over several years.Doan Xuan Than, 47, was sentenced to 66 months in prison on Thursday, a spokesman for the State Courts of Singapore said, becoming the second person jailed in a case that also involves former employees of Royal Dutch Shell who allegedly conspired to siphon oil from the firm's Singapore refinery.The theft…

Two Greek shipping companies have been fined $4 million in a U.S. plea deal for not reporting 2017 illegal oil discharges by a tanker at some Texas ports.“Two Greek shipping companies, Avin International LTD and Nicos IV Special Maritime Enterprises, were sentenced today on charges stemming from several discharges of oil into the waters of Texas ports,” the Department of Justice said in a press release.The companies in November pleaded guilty to obstruction of an agency proceeding, failure to report discharge of oil and negligent discharge of oil.Avin International was the operator and Nicos I.V. Special Maritime Enterprises was the owner of the Nicos I.V., which is a Greek-flagged vessel.

Oman has become the 16th signatory to the Jeddah Amendment to the Djibouti Code of Conduct – the instrument developed and adopted by countries in the Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden that has been a key factor in repressing piracy and armed robbery against ships operating in that region.Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Somalia, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen are other 15 countries.The Amendment significantly broadened the scope of the Djibouti Code when it was adopted at a high-level meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in January 2017.It covers measures for suppressing a range of illicit activities…

Mauritius has become the 15th signatory to the Jeddah Amendment to the Djibouti Code of Conduct – the instrument developed and adopted by countries in the Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden that has been a key factor in repressing piracy and armed robbery against ships operating in that region.The Amendment significantly broadened the scope of the Djibouti Code when it was adopted at a high-level meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in January 2017.It covers measures for suppressing a range of illicit activities, including piracy, arms trafficking, trafficking in narcotics, illegal trade in wildlife, illegal oil bunkering, crude oil theft…

From the sinking of the Titanic to the current piracy phenomenon plaguing the world's oceans, Maritime challenges requires a conserted and collaborative global effort at maintaining safety of live and protection of property at sea.To this the Ghana Maritime Authority (GMA) collaborated with its global partners from the European Uninon Gulf of Guinea Interregional Network (EU-GoGIN), and the Inter-Regional Coordination Centre (ICC) and organized a four-day crisis response training for security experts and players in the maritime sector.Participants were drawn from the Ghana Maritime Authority, Ghana Army, Ghana Navy, Airforce, National Security, National Disaster Management Organisation and Ghana Immigration Service.

An alleged oil heist in Singapore that has already led to 20 arrests, the seizure of at least one tanker and allegations that thieves siphoned thousands of tonnes of fuel from Shell’s biggest refinery is shining a spotlight on an illegal trade worth tens of billions of dollars worldwide. Working routes in a triangle of sea anchored by Thailand, Vietnam and Singapore and encompassing the oil facilities of Malaysia, the smugglers take advantage of a difficult-to-patrol sea and enticing black market prices, experts say.

Police say 17 arrested in connection with oil theft; 11 charged; Shell expects "short delay" in operations due to case. Eleven men were charged in a Singapore court on Tuesday in connection with a large-scale oil theft at Shell's biggest refinery, while police said they were investigating six other men arrested in a weekend raid. Police in the island-state said on Tuesday they had detained 17 men, whose ages ranged from 30 to 63, and seized millions of dollars in cash and a small tanker during their investigations into theft at the Pulau Bukom industrial site, which sits just south of Singapore's main island. Oil refining and shipping have contributed significantly to Singapore's rising wealth during the past decades.

Somalia has become the latest to sign the Jeddah Amendment to the Djibouti Code of Conduct, developed and adopted by countries in the Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden that seeks to repress piracy and armed robbery against ships operating in the region. Adopted in January 2017, the amendment broadened the scope of the Djibouti Code, covering measures for suppressing a range of illicit activities, including piracy, arms trafficking, trafficking in narcotics, illegal trade in wildlife…

Vietnam has extended an Indian oil concession in the South China Sea and begun drilling in another area it disputes with China in moves that could heighten tensions over who owns what in the vital maritime region. The moves come at a delicate time in Beijing's relations with Vietnam, which claims parts of the sea, and India, which recently sent warships to monitor the Malacca Straits, through which most of China's energy supplies and trade passes. Vietnam granted Indian oil firm ONGC Videsh a two-year extension to explore oil block 128 in a letter that arrived earlier this week, the state-run company's managing director Narendra K. Verma told Reuters.

The U.N. Security Council has extended sanctions on illegal oil exports from Libya to cover refined petroleum products as well, in a bid to stem rampant smuggling of subsidised fuel by sea. Imported fuel that is priced lower for the domestic market is commonly smuggled by ship from western Libya to Malta, Italy and Turkey, and by land to Tunisia, according to U.N. investigators who earlier this month recommended an extension of the sanctions. Entrenched and powerful smuggling networks have been trading fuel for years, and it is unclear to what extent the resolution can be enforced. The new resolution, approved late on Thursday, is designed to make explicit that fuel smuggling is illegal…

Kenya has become the 13th signatory to the Jeddah Amendment to the Djibouti Code of Conduct – the instrument developed and adopted by countries in the Western Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden that has been a key factor in repressing piracy and armed robbery against ships operating in that region. Comoros, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Jordan, Kenya, Madagascar, Maldives, Mozambique, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, United Arab Emirates, United Republic of Tanzania and Yemen are other countries to sign it. The Amendment significantly broadened the scope of the Djibouti Code when it was adopted at a high-level meeting in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in January 2017.

The key International Maritime Organization (IMO) instrument helping to repress piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden – the Djibouti Code of Conduct – is part of discussions at an international conference in Morocco. The West African Coastal Surveillance and Maritime Security Summit 2017 (AFSEC 17), being held in Casablanca (30 May – 1 June) has heard IMO’s Chris Trelawny present the latest developments of the Code, which is part of IMO’s on-going maritime security work. Mr. Trelawny gave an insight into the recently adopted Jeddah Amendment to the Djibouti Code. The Amendment includes measures for suppressing a range of illicit activities.

The Norwegian shipping company DSD Shipping (DSD) was sentenced to pay a total corporate penalty of $2.5 million as a result of its convictions in Mobile, Alabama, for obstructing justice, violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), tampering with witnesses and conspiring to commit these offenses. The company was ordered to pay $500,000 of the penalty to the Dauphin Island Sea Lab Foundation to fund marine research and enhance coastal habitats in the Gulf of Mexico and Mobile Bay. In addition, DSD was placed on a three year term of probation and was ordered to implement an environmental compliance plan to ensure the company’s vessels obeyed domestic and international environmental regulations in the future. The sentence was announced by Assistant Attorney General John C.

A three-week training course on maritime law enforcement for the Middle Eastern countries surrounding the Gulf of Aden concluded  May 4 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The course brought together specialists from 14 signatory countries* to the Djibouti Code of Conduct – the IMO instrument helping to repress piracy and armed robbery against ships in the Western Indian Ocean and the Gulf of Aden. Participants covered topics covered under the recently adopted Jeddah amendment to the Djibouti Code – such as how to suppress a range of illicit activities. These include piracy, arms trafficking, trafficking in narcotics, illegal trade in wildlife, illegal oil bunkering, crude oil theft, human trafficking, human smuggling, and illegal dumping of toxic waste.

At present more than half of the world’s piracy attacks are occurring in South East Asia, says he latest International Maritime Bureau (IMB) incident report. Piracy in the Gulf of Aden, which was the scourge of global shipping from 2011-14 has all but disappeared. But the problem is far from solved, whilst global piracy has dropped overall in the past few years the start of 2015 has seen a consistent rise in attacks. Responsible for this increate are both the Gulf of Guinea, which remains a hotspot for armed robbery at sea and kidnap for ransom, and south east Asia. Piracy in the waters off Indonesia, the Malakka and Singapore Straights has risen almost exponentially, representing almost 40 per cent of 2015 attacks globally. The majority of these incidents related to illegal oil bunkering.

Tri-Marine Management Co., Tri-Marine Fishing Management and Cape Mendocino Fishing (Tri-Marine) have agreed to pay $1.05 million in civil penalties and to perform fleet-wide inspections and other corrective measures to resolve claims stemming from an October 2014 oil spill in American Samoa and related violations of spill prevention regulations, the Department of Justice and the Coast Guard announced today. In its complaint, filed today along with the lodging of a consent decree in the U.S.

Three oil tanker ships were detained by the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) off the waters of Pengerang  for illegal ship-to-ship transfer of marine fuel oil (MFO) near Pengerang. Tanjung Sedili District Maritime Enforcement head, Maritime Capt Amran Daud said all three vessels were detained by a patrol boat at 9.15am about 3.8 nautical miles southeast of Ramunia Bay. Daud said the three ships were each registered in San Lorenzo in Peru, Kuching in Sarawak and Jakarta, Indonesia, respectively. "When detained, it was found that the MT Atami Maru was registered in San Lorenzo and has 16 Thai crew and one Indonesian crew on board and were transfering suspected marine fuel oil (MFO) to two ships, MT TB Macallan and MT TB LL Lamborghini," he said in a statement.