Piracy is an age-old problem in the energy industry, often seen in West Africa and other regions of the world. However, following the rise of the phenomenon during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, pirates are nearing U.S. shores, presenting a new threat to the industry. Slow-moving oil tankers in the region present an easy target for pirates looking for a ransom opportunity. This has become an increasingly common event in Mexico’s Bay of Campeche, the origin of a significant proportion of U.S. oil, providing around 17 percent of the country’s crude oil and 5 percent of its natural gas. “Recent piracy attacks in the Gulf of Mexico are a new development near U.S. waters,” Rockford Weitz, Director of Maritime Studies at Tufts University’s Fletcher School told Forbes earlier this month. “Hundreds of crude oil tankers and refined product tankers (carrying jet fuel, gasoline, and diesel) pass through the Gulf of […]