An oil tanker that exploded in the Saudi port city of Jeddah exploded on Monday, the ship’s owner, following a series of attacks on the kingdom’s oil infrastructure in recent months.
Hafnia, the ship’s owner and operator, said the blaze on the Singapore-flagged PW Rhine had put out the blaze and left 22 sailors unharmed. The company said the ship’s hull was damaged in two places and some oil may have leaked from the ship.
Saudi Arabia’s energy, ports and security officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident, which occurred shortly after midnight in Jeddah, the country’s most important Red Sea port.
The source of the object that hit the ship could not be determined.
Earlier attacks on the strategic waterway have been blamed or claimed by Yemeni Houthi rebels fighting the Saudi-led military alliance in the six-year civil war. The US-backed coalition has repeatedly warned of the threat to international trade posed by such support, which also threatens Saudi Arabia’s economic apparatus.
The Red Sea is a major route for oil and other trade from the Middle East to Europe, Asia and North America. In 2018, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported that about 6.2 million barrels of crude and refined petroleum products were shipped a day via the Bob El-Mandeb Strait, which separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aden.
Last month, a Greek-operated oil tanker at the Shukaik terminal south of Jeddah, near the Yemeni border, was called a failed terrorist attack by Saudi allies.
Two days ago, the Houthis reported that a Saudi Aramco-operated fuel depot in Jeddah had been hit by an anti-ship missile. Aramco said the strike, which caused no damage, tore a hole in the oil tank and triggered an explosion and fire.
The Houthis previously used explosives-laden remote control dinghies to attack ships in Saudi Arabia’s territorial waters and planted sea tunnels to disrupt shipping. A Western official in the Gulf said government officials had noticed an increase in the number of mines being shut down in the Red Sea in recent months.
The Yemeni conflict against the Houthis, who seized the capital Sanaa in 2014, is fueling the Saudi alliance. Saudi Arabia and its allies see the Houthis as soldiers of the kingdom’s main regional rival, Iran, and accuse it of providing the Islamic Republic. Insurgents with missiles and other weapons. Iran refuses to carry Houthis
The alleged attacks on the Houthis and Iran have hit the center of the Saudi economy, crystallizing the risks to the region’s oil industry. Last year’s missile strikes on Aramco’s Cruise oil field and the world’s largest oil refinery, Upkai, led to the oil industry’s worst failure ever, hitting 5.7 million barrels of crude oil production daily, and nearly 6% worldwide emissions.
En Benoit Foucault contributed to this article.
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