Lenore
Sanctioned crude tanker, IMO 9259367, seized by US forces off Sri Lanka
American forces boarded the tanker on 5 June 2026 about 20 miles south-west of Sri Lanka, with roughly 1.9 million barrels of crude aboard. By 25 September it had rounded Cape Horn, making 8 to 9 knots towards an American port.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
Timeline for Lenore
Rounded Cape Horn as the third of the three seized tankers
Iran Conflict 2026: Three seized tankers near American portsBackground
The Lenore is a Very Large Crude Carrier, IMO 9259367, built in 2004 and carrying 300,976 tonnes deadweight. The hull has changed name repeatedly: Eneos Tokyo, then Jessica D, Solana, Davina and now Lenore. United States forces identified it as Davina when they boarded it, and most shipping databases list it as Lenore, so a reader will meet the same ship under either name. It claimed a Curacao registry and a Palau one before that, and neither the Pentagon nor the International Maritime Organization recognised a flag state for it.
The United States Treasury designated the vessel on 11 October 2024 as property of Davina Shipping Inc, which it sanctioned the same day. Treasury said the hull had by then moved roughly 20 million barrels of Iranian crude.
A boarding takes a ship; it does not take title to the cargo, which leaves the Lenore's position legal rather than military. Iranian crude has been barred from the United States for decades, so the oil aboard cannot be landed and sold unless a court grants forfeiture. That question, not the seizure, is what the hull is now waiting on.
What is the IMO number of the tanker Lenore?
Why did the United States seize the Lenore?
Is the Lenore the same ship as the Davina?
What happens to the oil on the seized tankers?
