RIYADH: Yemen’s Ansar Allah group on Saturday attacked two Saudi Aramco plants, including the world’s biggest oil processing facility.
Saudi Arabia said it had brought the blazes under control, without specifying whether oil production or exports were affected. State television said exports were continuing. The extent of damage from the drone strikes in Abqaiq and Khurais provinces remains unclear. Aramco has yet to issue a statement on the pre-dawn attacks. Authorities have not reported on casualties.
Abqaiq is located 60 km southwest of Aramco’s Dhahran headquarters. The oil processing plant handles crude from the giant Ghawar field and for export to terminals Ras Tanura — the world’s biggest offshore oil loading facility — and Juaymah. It also pumps westwards across the kingdom to Red Sea export terminals.
Khurais, 190 km further southwest, contains the country’s second largest oilfield. Many Western employees of Aramco live in Abqaiq. The US Embassy in Riyadh said it was unaware of any injuries to Americans from the attacks.
The Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes on Yemen’s northern Saada province, an Ansar Allah stronghold, on Saturday, a Reuters witness said. Ansar Allah-run Al Masirah TV said the warplanes targeted a military camp north of Saada city.
Hours after the strike in Abqaiq, a Reuters witness nearby said fire and smoke were still visible. Earlier video footage verified by Reuters showed bright flames and thick plumes of smoke rising towards the dark pre-dawn sky. An emergency vehicle is seen rushing towards the site.
The Saudi interior ministry spokesman said Aramco industrial security teams fighting the fires since 0400 (0100 GMT) had managed to control them and stop their spread. He did not identify the source of the drones but said an investigation was under way.
The Ansar Allah’s military spokesman, without providing evidence, said the attacks hit refineries at both sites, which are over 1,000 km from the Yemeni capital Sanaa.
Tensions in the region have escalated in recent months after the United States quit an international nuclear deal and extended economic sanctions on Iran.
The Ansar Allah hit Shaybah oilfield last month and two oil pumping stations in May. Both attacks caused fires but did not disrupt production.
The coalition has responded with air strikes on Ansar Allah targets in Sanaa and other areas held by the group, which controls most large urban centres in Yemen.
The violence is complicating UN-led efforts to ease tensions between the Ansar Allah and Riyadh to pave the way for political talks to end the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed millions to the brink of famine.
The coalition intervened in Yemen to try to restore the internationally recognised government ousted from power in the Sanaa by the Ansar Allah in late 2014. — Reuters
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