No Saudi Aramco fuel supply disruptions from Houthi-claimed Jeddah strike: state media

Dubai — A terrorist missile attack on a distribution station north of Jeddah caused a fuel tank to catch fire, but no injuries or casualties resulted, and Saudi Aramco's supplies to customers were not affected, Saudi state media said late Nov. 23.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels had earlier claimed responsibility for the attack, in a statement made by the militia's spokesperson on Twitter. Houthi general Yahya Sarea announced the distribution station was targeted with a Quds-2 missile.

"The impact was precise, leading to ambulances rushing to the site," the Houthi statement said. Sarea also warned residents and international companies that their operation will continue and called on them to avoid "vital and important facilities" because they are on Houthis' target list.

Saudi Aramco could not be reached for comment.

A Saudi energy ministry spokesman said the strike occurred at 3:50 am local time and that firefighters had extinguished the fire, according to a report by the official Saudi Press Agency.

The cross-border conflict between the Houthis and the Saudi-led coalition has escalated after a ceasefire brokered because of the pandemic expired in May.

The Jeddah incident follows an attempted attack on Nov. 11, when Houthis directed two unmanned boats carrying explosives toward Aramco facilities in Jazan, on the Red Sea.

However, Saudi forces intercepted the boats, according to a statement made by the energy ministry at the time. A fire broke out at a floating offloading platform at Saudi Aramco's oil distribution station in Jazan during the operation.

Saudi Arabia regularly encounters attacks by the Iran-backed group, the largest of which in recent years was the September 2019 attack on Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq giant crude processing plant and Khurais oil field, temporarily knocking out 5.7 million b/d -- 5% of global crude demand -- and throwing the market into disarray.

However, it took just 10 days for Aramco to carry out sufficient repairs for the company's total output to recover to 10 million b/d.

In May 2019, the Houthis claimed a drone attack on Saudi Arabia's 5 million b/d East-West pipeline, which runs from Abqaiq in the West of the country, to the Red Sea in the East. The pipeline's repairs are ongoing.

The energy ministry spokesman, who was not named, condemned the Jeddah attack and said it was part of a pattern of "terrorism and sabotage...aimed at the security and stability of energy supplies to the world, as well as the global economy," the SPA report stated.

Saudi Arabia remains determined to confront terrorism, the report added.