The Turkish oil refinery company “Tupras” announced on Thursday that it had lost contact with the “St. Nicholas” ship, which transports 140,000 tons of Iraqi crude oil, stressing that the incident would not affect the company’s refining operations.
The company (privately) said in a statement that the ship carrying the Marshall Islands flag was transporting points from the ports of the Iraqi city of Basra before communication with it was cut off off the coast of Oman.
The company also confirmed that there were no Turkish citizens among the crew of the ship owned by the Greek company Empire Navigation.
It stressed that all oil refining operations are continuing in its refineries as planned, and the accident has no impact on the company’s operations.
The statement did not direct the accusation against any party, but it coincides with reports of gunmen, likely Iranian soldiers, seizing an oil tanker in the Sea of Oman.
