An oil tanker operated by a Bermudian-domiciled company was damaged after an attack in the Black Sea.

Herbjorn Hansson, founder, chairman and chief executive of Nordic American Tankers, said the vessel was now safely out of the Black Sea, which is bordered by six countries, including Russia, Ukraine and Turkey.

“One of our ships encountered attacks in the Black Sea a few days ago,” Mr Hansson said in a message to shareholders. “Fortunately, the crew was safe and the ship only suffered minor damage. The vessel is now out of the Black Sea area.”

The revelation comes after reports of a series of attacks by Ukrainian drones, mainly targeting the Russian “shadow fleet”, a network of vessels used to circumvent sanctions and transport oil and fuel, as well as some civilian ships.

Two weeks ago, Nordic American said three of its tankers passed through the Strait of Hormuz, exiting the Arabian Sea where they had been stranded for months, their movement restricted by hostilities involving Iran, the United States and Israel.

Some ships have this week come under attack in the Red Sea from Yemen-based Houthi rebels, but Nordic American’s ships are not operating there, Mr Hansson said.

He added: “We have seen geopolitical affairs in the past, but the magnitude of present events related to the global energy picture is unprecedented.”

One of the results of this challenging environment is upward pressure on oil tanker rates.

“The market for our ships is exceptionally good,” Mr Hansson said. “There is a scarcity of ships and rates for our one-million-barrel suezmaxes stay very high. We expect this to continue at least for a year or two.”