Houthi attack on Saudi Aramco plant damages oil tank

Saudi Aramco has said that a strike by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on its plant in Jeddah tore a hole in an oil tank, triggering an explosion and fire that was quickly extinguished.

Aramco has said its domestic fuel supplies were not affected by the attack on a petroleum products
distribution plant in the north of Jeddah city, with operations
resuming three hours after the incident.

Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi forces on Monday said they fired a missile at and struck the facility. Saudi authorities later confirmed the attack.

Aramco’s oil production and export facilities are mostly in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province, more than 1,000 km from Jeddah.

READ MORE: Yemen’s Houthis claim to hit Saudi Aramco site with missile

One of the 13 tanks used for diesel oil, gasoline and jet fuel at Aramco’s North Jeddah Bulk Plant is currently out of action, the facility’s manager Abdullah al Ghamdi told journalists on a tour.

Ghamdi said they were still assessing the scale and cost of the damage from the attack which happened at 3:50 am Saudi time on Monday.

He described the site as a “critical facility” with total storage capacity of 5.2 million barrels. It can distribute more than 120,000 barrels of products per day domestically to Jeddah, Mecca and the al Baha region.

“Within a minute [of the attack], the response team started the firefighting system which is fixed to the tank itself. A minute or two later the fire station crew arrived at the scene,” Ghamdi said.

A fire caused by the attack was extinguished in around 40 minutes with no casualties, he said.

“It was a big fire, a big explosion, but was dealt with swiftly,” Ghamdi said.

The projectile struck the storage tank, which has a maximum capacity of 500,000 barrels, from the top, causing “major damage” to its roof, with a hole around 2 metres square, the official said.

Black marks and some damage around its top rim were visible.

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Monday’s attack comes less than two weeks after a fire near a floating platform belonging to the Jazan oil products terminal was contained with no injuries.

That fire was the result of another attempted Houthi attack in which the Saudi-led coalition intercepted and destroyed two explosive-laden boats in the southern Red Sea.

Yemen has been mired in conflict since the coalition intervened in March 2015 to restore the Yemeni government ousted from power in the capital Sanaa by the Houthis.

Houthi forces have carried out many missile and drone strikes on civilian airports and oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, including on the capital Riyadh.

The coalition says it intercepts many attacks, and has responded with air strikes on Houthi-held territory. 

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