RIYADH – Saudi Arabia shut its biggest domestic oil refinery on March 2 after a drone strike, a source said, as Israeli and US strikes and Iranian retaliation forced shutdowns of oil and gas facilities across the Middle East.
A wave of attacks on the region stretched into a third day, resulting in the precautionary suspension of most oil production in Iraqi Kurdistan and at several major Israeli gas fields, throttling exports to Egypt.
State oil giant Saudi Aramco’s 550,000 barrels per day (bpd) Ras Tanura refinery, which was shut as a precautionary measure, is part of an energy complex on the kingdom’s Gulf coast which also serves as a critical export terminal for Saudi crude oil.
In Iraqi Kurdistan, which exported 200,000 bpd via pipeline to Turkey’s Ceyhan port in February, companies including DNO, Gulf Keystone Petroleum, Dana Gas and HKN Energy have stopped output at their fields as a precaution, with no damage reported.
Offshore Israel, the giant Chevron-operated Leviathan gas field was shut on Feb 28, according to sources, while Energean shut down its production vessel serving smaller gas fields.
The situation at Aramco’s Ras Tanura refinery is under control, the source said. Two drones were intercepted at the facility, with debris causing a limited fire, the Saudi defence ministry’s spokesperson said on Al Arabiya TV, adding there were no injuries.
Aramco did not immediately respond to an e-mailed request for comment.
Some of the refinery’s units were shut as a precautionary measure but the supply of petroleum and its derivatives to local markets was not affected, Saudi state news agency SPA said, citing an unnamed official at the energy ministry.
Still, its shuttering will likely add to supply anxieties as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of global oil consumption flows, grinds to a near-halt after vessels were attacked around it on Sunday. Brent crude futures surged roughly 10 per cent on March 2 to over US$82 (S$104) a barrel.
“The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran’s sights,” said Mr Torbjorn Soltvedt, principal Middle East analyst at risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft.
“The attack is also likely to move Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Gulf states closer to joining US and Israeli military operations against Iran.”
Saudi Arabia’s heavily fortified energy facilities have been targeted previously, most notably in September 2019 when drone and missile attacks on the Abqaiq and Khurais plants temporarily knocked out more than half of the kingdom’s crude production.
Ras Tanura was attacked by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis in 2021. REUTERS