RIYADH • Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group yesterday launched drone strikes on two Saudi Aramco plants at the heart of the kingdom's oil industry, including the world's biggest petroleum processing facility, sparking fires.
Saudi Arabia said it had brought the blazes under control but three sources close to the matter said oil production and exports had been disrupted.
One source said the strikes affected five million barrels per day of crude production - close to half of the kingdom's output - but did not elaborate.
By evening local time yesterday, state television said exports were continuing and Aramco had yet to comment on the pre-dawn attack. The authorities also had not said whether oil production or exports had been affected.
The drone strikes on the world's biggest oil exporter come as Saudi Aramco has accelerated plans for an initial public offering of the state oil giant to as early as this year, and follow earlier cross-border attacks on Saudi oil installations and on oil tankers in Gulf waters. Yesterday's attacks appeared to be the most brazen yet.
Saudi Arabia, which is leading a Sunni Muslim military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Houthis, has blamed its regional rival, Shi'ite Iran, for previous attacks, which Teheran denies. Riyadh accuses Teheran of arming the Houthis, a charge denied by the group and Iran.
A Reuters witness near the Abqaiq attack site said at least 15 ambulances were seen in the area and there was also a heavy security presence. Abqaiq is 60km south-west of Aramco's Dhahran headquarters. The oil processing plant handles crude from the world's largest conventional oil field, the supergiant Ghawar, 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, 190km further southwest, contains the country's second largest oilfield.
Many Western employees of Aramco live in Abqaiq.
Meanwhile, the Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes on Yemen's northern Saada province, a Houthi stronghold, yesterday, a Reuters witness said.
Houthi-run al Masirah TV said the warplanes targeted a military camp north of Saada city.
Hours after the Houthi strike in Abqaiq, the Reuters witness said fire and smoke were still visible but had started dying down.
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 said Aramco industrial security teams fighting the fires since yesterday morning had managed to control them and stop their spread. It did not identify the source of the drones but said an investigation was under way.
The Houthis' military spokesman, without providing evidence, said the attacks hit refineries at both sites, which are over 1,000km from the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and pledged a widening of assaults on Saudi Arabia.
Iran's elite Quds Force chief Qassem Soleimani praised the Houthis for their resistance in a Twitter post that included the hashtag Aramco.
The Houthis hit Shaybah oil field last month and two oil pumping stations in May.
Both attacks caused fires but did not disrupt production.
REUTERS
