Two U.S. Navy vessels have collided in the Strait of Hormuz off the coast of Iran, slightly injuring 15 sailors and creating a heavy fuel spill in the Persian Gulf.
Oil prices reversed course and rose briefly Friday after news of the collision that occurred on a key route that transits about 40 percent of the world's sea borne traded crude oil.
The Bahrain-based Fifth Fleet said sailors aboard the submarine USS Hartford were slightly injured when it collided with amphibious transport dock ship USS New Orleans at around 1 a.m. Friday (5 p.m. EDT, Thursday).
Both ships were heading to port and were going in the same direction in the narrow strait. The submarine was submerged when the accident occurred just after midnight.
The injured sailors on the nuclear-powered submarine returned to duty. No personnel aboard the New Orleans were injured, the U.S. military statement said.
One of the New Orleans' many fuel tanks ruptured in the collision, causing a spill of 25,000 gallons (95,000 liters) of diesel.
Officials reportedly said there are no real plans yet for cleaning up the spillage.
There was no damage to the submarine's nuclear propulsion system.
Both ships, currently docked at a nearby port for inspections, are operating under their own power.
The U.S. Navy said it is investigating the incident. Shipping was not disrupted in the waterway frequented by supertankers, but any incident in that area can alarm the markets.
Reports quoting U.S. Defense Department officials said the two vessels were probably not in communication before they collided.
Benchmark crude for April delivery had traded lower for most of the morning, but later rose 39 cents to $52 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In London, Brent prices rose 50 cents to $51.17 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
The Strait of Hormuz separates the Arabian Peninsula from Iran and is the gateway into the oil-rich Gulf.
17 million barrels of oil were carried through the narrow strait each day in the first half of 2008, or about 20 percent of all oil traded globally.
The U.S. vessels were on regularly scheduled deployments, conducting Maritime Security Operations (MSO) in the region. It was the Los Angeles-class submarine's first deployment.
MSO set the conditions for security and stability in the maritime environment as well as complement the counter-terrorism and security efforts of nations in the region.
Ships from the Fifth Fleet, working alongside U.S. Naval Forces Central Command, patrol a wide strategically as well as commercially important area of eastern Africa, the Middle East and Southwest Asia.
A major oil and chemical spill off Australia last week raised an environmental threat to the Queensland coast.
The cargo ship, which spilled 30 containers of ammonium nitrate and more than 5,0000 liters of oil, is currently in the custody of Australia's Maritime Safety Authority in Brisbane, as the investigation into the spill continues.
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