A drone strike caused the Ras Tanura refinery in Saudi Arabia to shut down.Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company Saudi Aramco has shut down its main Ras Tanura refinery for now after a drone attack, a source from the industry said.The incident is a clear step up on the third day of regional attacks that Tehran is said to have launched in response to a joint U.S.Israel carried out a strike targeting Iran. Ras Tanura sits on Saudi Arabia’s Gulf coast and is one of the biggest refining sites in the Middle East, handling about 550,000 barrels a day.It also acts as an important export terminal for Saudi crude.
They closed the facility just to be safe, and the authorities said everything is under control.Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry said they intercepted two drones at the site, and some debris from them caused a small fire.There were no injuries reported.The shutdown is likely to raise worries about the world’s oil supplies, especially since shipping traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is slowing down a lot.About one out of every five barrels of the world’s oil goes through this key waterway, and there were reports of ships being attacked there over the weekend.Brent crude futures jumped about 10 percent on Monday as tensions kept rising.
Regional security analysts say the strike marks a big step up, warning that Gulf energy infrastructure is becoming more and more at risk.This development might bring Saudi Arabia and nearby countries closer to working with Washington and Tel Aviv on military matters against Iran.The recent attack is just one in a series of strikes happening across the Gulf, with reports coming in from Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Doha, Manama, and the port of Duqm in Oman.
Most oil production in Iraq’s Kurdistan region has been paused for now, even though they were exporting around 200,000 barrels a day to Turkey back in February. This suspension is just a precaution.Saudi energy facilities have been attacked in the past.In September 2019, big drone and missile attacks hit the Abqaiq oil processing facility and the Khurais oil field, cutting more than half of the kingdom’s crude oil production for a while and shaking up global markets.
Ras Tanura was hit back in 2021 by Yemen’s Houthi forces, who are backed by Iran. Riyadh called it an attack aimed at global energy security.
