Key facts
- The IRGC said two oil tankers and a tugboat caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz on November 5.
- The IRGC said one oil tanker hit a naval mine while attempting to move south of the Strait; the cause of the second tanker fire was not stated.
- UKMTO reported a tanker struck by two unidentified projectiles 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar.
- The IRGC said on November 4 that four oil tankers it described as destroyed had hit naval mines in an area Iran has declared barred.
- Middle East exports of crude, condensate and fuels fell to 17.1 million bpd in October from 18.9 million bpd in September, per Vortexa data cited by Reuters.
Two oil tankers and a tugboat caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz, Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said on November 5. The IRGC said one of the tankers hit a naval mine while attempting to move south of the Strait, while another caught fire on its way out in the eastern part of the Strait and a tugboat that approached to help also caught fire.
Separately, UK Maritime Trade Operations, which is affiliated with the Royal Navy, said early on November 5 that it had received a report of an incident 50 nautical miles north of Madinat ash Shamal, Qatar, in which a tanker was struck by two unidentified projectiles. UKMTO said the status of the crew, a damage assessment and the environmental impact were unconfirmed.
The IRGC said on November 4 that four oil tankers were destroyed after hitting naval mines in an area south of the Strait of Hormuz that Iran has proscribed as prohibited for navigation.
Attacks on vessels in the region have intensified in recent weeks, and the security situation in and near the Strait of Hormuz has deteriorated even as crude flows have recovered substantially from lows in the spring. Exports of crude oil, condensate and fuels from the Middle East slipped to 17.1 million barrels per day in October from 18.9 million bpd in September, after a post-war peak in September, according to Vortexa data cited by Reuters. Tanker-tracking services cautioned that the figures could be revised higher as more details on shipments, especially shuttle shipments, emerge. Trackers increasingly rely on satellite imagery to confirm vessel movements because ships often switch off transponders to avoid detection when transiting the Strait of Hormuz.