<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greek-Interest Tanker Reportedly Struck by Drone While Loading Oil Off Novorossiysk<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n A Greek-interest crude oil tanker was reportedly struck by an aerial drone on 16 August 2026 while loading oil offshore from Novorossiysk, Russia, in the Black Sea<\/strong>, according to a maritime security update.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The vessel has been identified as likely the Liberia-flagged SKIROS (IMO 9390628)<\/strong>. Vessel-tracking databases identify SKIROS as a Suezmax crude oil tanker built in 2009<\/strong>, measuring approximately 275 metres in length with a deadweight of about 159,000 tonnes<\/strong>. Current vessel data also places the tanker in the Black Sea and identifies Liberia as its flag state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the security report, the incident occurred while the tanker was loading oil offshore from Novorossiysk<\/strong>. An aerial drone reportedly conducted an initial pass over the area before approaching the tanker and striking the vessel’s bridge<\/strong>, resulting in a fire onboard<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The incident highlights the growing exposure of commercial shipping operating around major Russian Black Sea oil-export facilities. Novorossiysk and its offshore loading infrastructure remain strategically important to regional crude-oil movements, making vessels operating in the area increasingly exposed to the wider security risks associated with the ongoing conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vanguard Operations stated that its dedicated team is continuing to monitor developments in the region and port area<\/strong> and will provide further notification of incidents as information becomes available.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At present, the available report does not provide confirmed information on crew casualties, the extent of structural damage, pollution, or the operational status of the tanker following the reported strike<\/strong>. These details should therefore be treated as unconfirmed until additional information is released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The reported incident also comes against a backdrop of previous drone attacks affecting tankers and oil infrastructure around Novorossiysk. In July, a drone attack near the Caspian Pipeline Consortium terminal reportedly caused a fire aboard the Greek-interest tanker Nissos Sifnos<\/em>, demonstrating the continuing security challenges faced by commercial tankers operating around the Black Sea oil-export hub.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Greek-Interest Tanker Reportedly Struck by Drone While Loading Oil Off Novorossiysk A Greek-interest crude oil tanker was reportedly struck by an aerial drone on 16 August 2026 while loading oil offshore from Novorossiysk, Russia, in the Black Sea, according to a maritime security update. The vessel has been identified as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1356,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[936,690,258,223,237,248,894,1047,240,272,225,969,1102,719],"class_list":["post-1355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marine_news_update","tag-blacksea","tag-droneattack","tag-marinesafety","tag-maritimeindustry","tag-maritimenews","tag-maritimesecurity","tag-merchantshipping","tag-novorossiysk","tag-oiltanker","tag-seafarers-2","tag-shippingnews","tag-shipsecurity","tag-tanker","tag-tankershipping"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DRONE-STRIKE-RUSSIA-NEWS-1024x1024.png","blog_images":{"medium":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DRONE-STRIKE-RUSSIA-NEWS-300x300.png","large":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/DRONE-STRIKE-RUSSIA-NEWS-1024x1024.png"},"ams_acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1355"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1357,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1355\/revisions\/1357"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marinersupdate.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}