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Vilamoura Oil Tanker Explodes Near Libya After Visiting Russian Ports
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![Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko]( "Photo of Dariia Mykhailenko")
An oil tanker carrying 1 million barrels of crude exploded near the Libyan coast, Bloomberg reported on June 30.
The vessel called Vilamoura had previously visited Russian ports, including Ust-Luga and the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal near Novorossiysk, to load Kazakh oil.
According to Bloomberg, the company operating Vilamoura, the ship is currently being towed to Greece, where damage will be assessed. The cause of the explosion remains unknown. No injuries were reported, and no environmental contamination occurred.
This incident is part of a troubling pattern. In recent months, a string of oil tankers — all of which previously docked at Russian ports — have suffered unexplained explosions. The pattern has prompted shipowners to deploy divers and submersibles to inspect hulls for possible underwater mines or sabotage devices.
Since April, Vilamoura had made at least two trips to Russian oil terminals. Since the begining of the year four other ships have exploded under similar circumstances, Bloomberg reported, citing maritime risk consultancy Vanguard Tech.
Earlier, for the first time in eight months, a liquefied natural gas tanker reportedly docked at Russia’s Arctic LNG 2 export terminal, despite ongoing US sanctions intended to disrupt its operations.
According to Bloomberg, ship-tracking data revealed that the vessel Iris—previously named North Sky—was moored at the terminal. The facility has remained inactive since October, when US sanctions and severe ice conditions brought shipments to a standstill.
