Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil complex struck again by unknown projectile, sources say

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Damage at Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery on March 2. Ras Tanura was struck again on March 4 by an unknown projectile.

Damage at Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura oil refinery on March 2. Ras Tanura was struck again on March 4 by an unknown projectile.

PHOTO: AFP

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RIYADH – Saudi Aramco’s Ras Tanura, which houses its largest domestic refinery and a key crude export terminal, was struck again on March 4 by an unknown projectile, two days after

a drone attack on the complex shut the refinery

.

Initial indications show an attack on the Ras Tanura refinery was carried out by a drone and resulted in no damage, Saudi Arabia’s Defence Ministry spokesman said.

The state news agency also cited an Energy Ministry source as saying that there was no disruption to supplies.

Saudi Arabia and other regional Gulf oil producers, such as the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq, have been ​unable to move oil through the Strait of Hormuz since the United States and Israel

launched attacks on Iran on Feb 28

.

Hundreds of ships have anchored

on either ​side of the strait as a precaution, and Iran has said it would fire on any vessel that attempted to ⁠transit the shipping chokepoint.

Ras Tanura sits on Saudi Arabia’s eastern coast on the Gulf.

Saudi Aramco is attempting to reroute some of its crude exports to the Red Sea to avoid the strait, sources have said.

Saudi Arabia’s heavily fortified energy facilities have been targeted previously, most notably in September 2019, when unprecedented drone and missile attacks on the Abqaiq and Khurais plants temporarily knocked out more than half the kingdom’s crude production and roiled global markets.

Ras Tanura was attacked by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis in 2021 in what Riyadh called a failed assault on global energy security. REUTERS

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