Britain’s maritime agency said a drone circled a ship in the Gulf of Oman on Friday, three days after an Iranian-made drone attacked a tanker in the region.

The Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO), which is part of the Royal Navy, said the incident took place about 50 miles southwest of Muscat. The vessel and crew were reported to be safe. It did not specify what kind of vessel was involved.

The U.S. Central Command said on Wednesday that an Iranian-made drone had attacked the tanker Pacific Zircon on Tuesday.

An Israeli official said Iran was responsible for the strike, while Iran’s Nournews, which is affiliated to Tehran’s security organization, blamed Israel and said the “Hebrew-Arab axis” aimed to create a “charged atmosphere” ahead the soccer World Cup that starts in Qatar on Sunday.

Pacific Zircon sustained minor damage with no injuries or spillage of the gas oil cargo, its operator, Israeli-controlled Eastern Pacific Shipping, said on Wednesday.

Attacks on tankers in Gulf waters in recent years have come at times of heightened regional tensions.

Britain is set to receive a rare shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Australia later this month, as countries across Europe strive to secure enough supplies ahead of winter.

 

European nations are seeking to diversify energy supplies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and a sharp drop in Russian gas flows to the continent.

 

LNG tanker Attalos, with a capacity of 174,000 cubic meters, is set to arrive at Britain’s Isle of Grain terminal on Aug. 22, according to data and analytics firm Kpler.

 

“The (LNG tanker) Patris was the original vessel that loaded at the North West Shelf liquefaction plant in Australia. It did a ship-to-ship transfer with the Attalos in Malaysian waters, and the Attalos is now headed to the UK,” said Laura Page, senior LNG analyst at Kpler.

 

Australian cargoes are rare in Europe due to the massive cost related to the distance, and due to high demand from Asian buyers.

 

Britain is home to three of the largest LNG terminals in Europe – two terminals at Milford Haven and another at the Isle of Grain – where the super chilled fuel is converted back into gas, with some volumes transferred via pipeline to mainland Europe.

 

European LNG imports from January to July reached a record above 100 billion cubic meters (bcm), or 75 million tonnes, almost reaching the level for the whole of 2021. Most of these exports came from the United States.

 

In the first half of this year, the United States exported about 57 bcm of gas as LNG, with 39 bcm, or 68%, going to Europe, compared with 34 bcm, or 35%, of LNG exports shipped to Europe for all of 2021, according to Refinitiv data.