Oil loading operations suspended at UAE’s Fujairah port, sources say, after drone attack
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Fujairah, located at the Gulf of Oman just outside the Strait of Hormuz, is typically a critical exit point for about one million barrels per day of the UAE’s Murban crude.
PHOTO: REUTERS
DUBAI – Oil loading operations have been suspended at the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah, two sources told Reuters on March 16, after a drone attack sparked a fire in the emirate’s petroleum industrial zone.
Fujairah, located at the Gulf of Oman just outside the Strait of Hormuz, is typically a critical exit point for about one million barrels per day of the UAE’s Murban crude – a volume equivalent to roughly 1 per cent of global demand.
Civil defence teams are currently working to control the blaze, the Fujairah government media office said in a statement, adding that no casualties have been reported. It made no comment on oil loadings.
Three separate fires were blazing at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone in the afternoon, said two sources, including one witness. Abu Dhabi state oil company ADNOC, which operates in the emirate, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The suspension marks the second major disruption at the vital bunkering hub in recent days. Operations at Fujairah had resumed on March 15 following a separate drone strike over the weekend.
The attacks come as the ongoing US-Israeli war with Iran strangles shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman that normally handles a fifth of the world’s oil supply. REUTERS
