The publication Maritime Executive reports, “a Greek-managed crude tanker has suffered an explosion at a position off the coast of Libya, according to maritime security consultancy Vanguard.” Here’s where it gets particularly interesting:

In the past year, Vilamoura made two calls at Russian ports – one at Ust-Luga and another in the Russian sector of the Black Sea. Heavy GPS jamming makes it difficult to determine where in the Black Sea region the vessel went, but it appears that she spent time near Sochi and Novorossiysk; the latter is a loading port for both Russian and Kazakh crude. Her presence at Russian ports could have bearing on the incident off Libya, noted Vanguard.

“Some have speculated that the [Vilamoura] was the victim of a limpet mine attack, although this remains unconfirmed by official sources,” Vanguard reported. “Of note, a number of tankers have been involved in explosions since early 2025 that investigators believe were caused by limpet mines, including the Malta-flagged Seajewel, the Marshall Islands-flagged Seacharm, the Liberia-flagged Grace Ferrum, and the Antigua and Barbuda-flagged Kola. All had recently called at Russian ports.”

Limpet mines are explosives placed on the side of ships, usually attached with magnets.

At least four, and perhaps five oil tankers getting damaged by limpet mines in one year suggests that someone out there wants to shut down the networks smuggling Russian oil and putting more money into Russia’s coffers to fund their war effort.

Smuggling Russian oil is dangerous work, fellas. You might want to contemplate going straight and carrying oil from somewhere else. In fact, I hear there’s a big country in North America that’s producing about 13.3 million barrels per day, considerably more than Russia’s 9.7 million barrels per day.

Now, these sorts of mining operations could be undertaken by anybody who hates the Russian invasion… but there’s good reason to suspect some group of Ukrainians, either with or without the Ukrainian government’s approval, are doing their part to hobble the Russian economy and ruin Vladimir Putin’s day.

Last August, the Wall Street Journal revealed the inside story of how the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was blown up:

 The Ukrainian operation cost around $300,000, according to people who participated in it. It involved a small rented yacht with a six-member crew, including trained civilian divers. One was a woman, whose presence helped create the illusion they were a group of friends on a pleasure cruise.

“I always laugh when I read media speculation about some huge operation involving secret services, submarines, drones and satellites,” one officer who was involved in the plot said. “The whole thing was born out of a night of heavy boozing and the iron determination of a handful of people who had the guts to risk their lives for their country.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky initially approved the plan, according to one officer who participated and three people familiar with it. But later, when the CIA learned of it and asked the Ukrainian president to pull the plug, he ordered a halt, those people said.

Zelensky’s commander in chief, Valeriy Zaluzhniy, who was leading the effort, nonetheless forged ahead.

The Journal spoke to four senior Ukrainian defense and security officials who either participated in or had direct knowledge of the plot. All of them said the pipelines were a legitimate target in Ukraine’s war of defense against Russia.

Maybe every oil tanker ought to avoid Russian ports for the foreseeable future, just to be sure.