Oman has ordered the evacuation of vessels from its key Mina Al Fahal oil port, which sits outside the Strait of Hormuz, in a sign that the disruption to oil supply is spreading in the Middle Eastern ports that don’t need passage through the world’s most critical chokepoint.
All vessels were told to evacuate Mina Al Fahal, Bloomberg reported on Thursday, as attacks on regional energy infrastructure intensify and tankers and cargo vessels are now being targeted more frequently.
On Wednesday, Iranian drones struck oil storage facilities at the Port of Salalah in Oman, as the regional war expands into a full-scale confrontation over global oil supply.
Salalah, located on Oman’s southern coast along the Arabian Sea, has become an increasingly important hub for tankers seeking to bypass the increasingly dangerous Strait of Hormuz. The strike raised fresh concerns that Iran is expanding the conflict beyond the Gulf chokepoint and into alternative export routes used by oil producers and shipping companies.
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Overnight two oil tankers carrying Iraqi oil products caught fire after being struck in Iraqi territorial waters near the country’s southern export terminals.
Iran claimed responsibility for the attacks via state media, saying an underwater drone attack “blew up two oil tankers in the Persian Gulf tonight.”
In the latest update on the critical situation in and around the Gulf, the Joint Maritime Information Center said that “Recent incident patterns suggest a campaign focused on operational disruption and the creation of uncertainty across maritime traffic flows.”
Wednesday’s attack on Oman’s storage facilities at Salalah “highlights the continued exposure of regional port and energy infrastructure beyond the Strait of Hormuz itself, reinforcing the broader risk environment for maritime logistics, fuel storage, and port operations across the Arabian Sea and Gulf approaches,” the center said.
Over the next 24 hours, there is high probability of stand-off or sabotage-style attacks against stationary vessels, offshore infrastructure, and port areas, it added.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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