Pirates Hijacked Saudi Supertanker (Oil)

Pirates have hijacked a Saudi Supertanker with two million gallons of oil on board.  This type of hijacking is near the top of my list of fears.  Oil prices have been sliding for a while, but can you imagine the effect this would have had back when oil prices were near their peak.  My fear is not just the effect this could have on prices, but physical damage.  Oil supertankers are among the largest ships on the seas and contain a huge amount of a very volatile cargo.  Imagine the effect of a terrorist ramming a tanker like this into a major port.

First, there would be almost no way to stop it.  A ship of this size and mass builds up so much inertia that it takes some time to stop it without it fighting you.  Traveling at full speed with the engines maxed out would likely overcome any attempt to physical pull it back if you could manage to hook on to it in the first place (assuming you do not catch up to it until it gets close to shore).  Shooting at it is not optimal either because of the massive oil spill you could cause and the possibility of the oil catching fire and exploding.  Even if you do not shoot at it, once it hits something in port it will have the same effect.  One word; nightmare.  It does not appear that the pirates have this in mind, but if pirates can hijack a ship in once thought "safe" waters, so can terrorists.


http://www.ft.com
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/e10892ba-b4a8-11dd-b780-0000779fd18c.html

"Pirates operating off the coast of east Africa have hijacked a Saudi supertanker fully laden with an estimated 2m barrels of oil in an attack that marks a significant escalation in the scope of banditry in the region.

The pirates, believed to be from lawless Somalia, seized control of the Sirius Star, which is owned by Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil company, on Saturday, 450 nautical miles south-east of the Kenyan Indian Ocean port of Mombasa.

It is estimated that the tanker was holding more than a quarter of the daily exports from Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest oil exporter. The oil would have been worth about $100m (€79m, £66.5m) at Monday’s market price..."