Sept. 3, 2014 by John Amos, SkyTruth – Playing Hide-and-Seek! With an Oil Tanker…
Supertankers loaded with crude have been making the news recently, mostly because they can’t find a place to sell the stuff. These tankers departed from Kurdistan, but Iraq claims the oil they carry is their property and the Kurds don’t have the right to sell it. This global political dispute is playing out on the water in an interesting, albeit risky, way: the tankers are unable to come into port, so are lingering offshore, fully loaded, waiting for some kind of resolution.
Above: Detail from Landsat-8 image taken August 4, 2014. Panchromatic band (15 meter pixels). United Kalavrvta marked by red circle. A similar-sized vessel also appears to be anchored about 4km to the west.