Piracy, collisions, missiles: Oil tankers navigate troubled waters in Gulf

Tankers like those apparently attacked in the Gulf of Oman operate through increasingly treacherous waters, facing mounting dangers from piracy and collision as well as geopolitical hazards.

Around 60 million barrels of petroleum product move each day on the seas globally, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

And around a third of this volume passes through the Strait of Hormuz, a critical shipping passage.

This waterway is a principal route for crude exports from Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq. It is also a key route for natural gas exports from Qatar.

Other highly strategic waterways include the Strait