Tanker carrying 1 million barrels of oil hit by explosion off Libya

An oil tanker carrying one million barrels of crude oil exploded near the Libyan coast, Bloomberg reported on 30 June.

The explosion occurred on Friday in the engine room of the Vilamoura, a Marshall Islands-flagged tanker, approximately 90 nautical miles (165 kilometres) off the Libyan coast, the operator TMS Tankers confirmed.

In a statement, the company said: “There were no injuries and no pollution.”

The blast flooded the engine room, leaving the vessel disabled. 

The vessel, Vilamoura, had previously called at Russian ports, including Ust-Luga and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk, to load Kazakh oil.

The Vilamoura had departed from the Libyan port of Zueitina and was en route to the British territory of Gibraltar across the Mediterranean when the incident took place.

According to Bloomberg, the company operating Vilamoura said the ship is currently being towed to Greece, where experts will assess the damage. The cause of the explosion remains unknown. No injuries or environmental pollution have been reported.

This incident is part of a worrying pattern. Bloomberg cites maritime risk consultancy Vanguard Tech as saying that since the start of 2025, four other vessels which had visited Russian ports have suffered unexplained explosions.

Shipowners are now deploying divers and submersibles to inspect hulls for possible underwater mines or sabotage devices.

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