Oman's Mina al Fahal Oil Terminal Suspends Loading After Explosion Near Single-Buoy Mooring, Sources Say, as Iran War Tensions Disrupt Gulf Energy Infrastructure

Oman's Mina al Fahal terminal — a key oil export facility — has suspended oil loading operations following an explosion near its SBM (single-buoy mooring) infrastructure, according to two people with knowledge of the situation. The explosion is alleged to have occurred between SBM berths 1 and 2, with sources claiming the incident was caused by a drone strike. The exact date of the incident was not immediately known at the time of reporting. Shipping data from LSEG (London Stock Exchange Group's data and analytics division, formerly Refinitiv) showed several supertankers anchored near the port following the suspension of loading operations. Iranian state media separately reported that Tehran had targeted a US military vessel in the Gulf of Oman, though US Central Command denied that the vessel had been approaching Iranian territorial waters. Mina al Fahal is Oman's primary crude oil export terminal and handles a significant proportion of the country's export volumes. Any prolonged suspension of loading operations would affect crude supply flows from a non-OPEC Gulf producer, with direct implications for tanker routing, insurance markets, and energy commodity pricing. The incident sits within the broader context of the ongoing US-Iran conflict, which has entered its fourth month and created sustained energy security risk across the Gulf of Oman and Strait of Hormuz shipping lanes — one of the world's most critical chokepoints for global oil and gas trade.