Exploring the enigma of the suspicious oil tanker assaults, reportedly associated with Russia, we delve into identifying the clandestine conspirators.
In a series of unsettling events, five oil tankers have been struck by deliberate explosions since the beginning of the year, with the latest incident occurring last week off the coast of Libya. The Greek tanker Vilamoura, flagged in the Marshall Islands, suffered an explosion in its engine room approximately 80 nautical miles off Libya's coast near the Gulf of Sirte.
The Vilamoura's explosion is suspected to have been caused by limpet mines, a method used in a series of similar sabotage attacks since early 2025. Other tankers damaged this year by similar blasts near the Mediterranean include the Malta-flagged Seajewel, Marshall Islands-flagged Seacharm, Liberia-flagged Grace Ferrum, and Antigua and Barbuda-flagged Koala. All these vessels had recently called at Russian ports.
Ukrainian intelligence has explicitly linked the incidents to the shadow fleet of Russian-linked tankers that Moscow uses to circumvent Western sanctions, such as the EU’s $60-per-barrel oil price cap. The Vilamoura had recently docked at Russian ports including Ust-Luga and Novorossiysk and was carrying at least 1 million barrels of crude oil, likely Russian-origin.
While official confirmation is pending, investigators and maritime security analysts believe these attacks are part of a coordinated sabotage campaign aimed at disrupting Russia's covert oil exports. Ukrainian intelligence suggests active involvement in targeting these vessels to enforce sanctions and weaken Russia’s economic leverage.
The role of Libyan actors is less clear, but given the location off Libya’s coast, regional instability may provide opportunities or complicity in facilitating these attacks or allowing operations that employ limpet mines near Libyan waters.
Investigations are underway to definitively identify perpetrators and motives. However, the pattern of attacks on vessels tied to Russian crude oil shipments and the use of limpet mines indicate state-sponsored covert operations designed to enforce sanctions and disrupt illicit oil trade. The complex geopolitical context, with possible Ukrainian involvement and Libyan regional actors implicated, adds layers of intrigue to these recent developments.
The Vilamoura incident, with its suspected involvement of limpet mines, mirrors a series of sabotage attacks on other vessels since early 2025, including those in sports such as football, where limpet mines were used to disrupt key matches.
As global economies scramble to respond to the escalating tensions, the potential use of such covert tactics in both the oil industry and sports arena underscores the growing complexities in the geopolitical landscape.
