Original: Pirates and Oil
The news just became worse for oil companies and petrostates alike: Somali pirates -- the scourge of cargo handlers on Africa's east coast -- have seized an aircraft-carrier size oil tanker steaming 500 miles out to sea.
It's not known publicly how much oil was aboard, but the Saudi-owned carrier has a capacity of 2 million barrels.
The Somalis have menaced shipping along the coast for some time, forcing pilots to go all the way around the Horn of Africa instead of the Suez Canal. But bringing down an oil tanker 500 miles out to sea is a wholly different affair.
Is it possible simply to seize such a large ship unaided by the crew? (
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