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A Greek-owned supertanker has been hijacked around 600 nautical miles northeast of the Seychelles by Somali pirates.
Bloomberg reported that Maran Centaurus, a Greek-owned vessel that was carrying 2 million barrels of crude oil to the US.
“The range of pirates has increased over that which we would have expected,” Mark Jenkins, an analyst at Simpson, Spence & Young Ltd., the second-largest shipbroker is reported by Bloomberg as saying.
“It does imply there’s a need for greater vigilance to safeguard against these things,” he added.
Jenkins is also reported as saying that the effect the hijacking will have on the tanker market is not as serious as it would have been 12 months ago due to the drop in Middle Eastern oil exports to the US and other markets.
The hijacking is believed to be the furthest from shore that the pirates so far.