Daijiworld Media Network - Riyadh
Riyadh, Aug 9: A fire that broke out at a facility belonging to Saudi Arabia's state oil giant Aramco in the coastal city of Jizan was extinguished, authorities said on Sunday. No casualties were reported.
The Saudi Ministry of Energy said the blaze broke out early Sunday at the facility in Jizan, near the country's border with Yemen. “The competent authorities are completing the necessary procedures to deal with the incident,” the ministry said in a statement on X.
The ministry did not disclose the cause of the fire.
Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi armed group claimed responsibility for an attack on the facility. Yahya Saree, military spokesman for the Houthi-led government in Sanaa, said the group had targeted the Aramco refinery in Jizan with a drone.
Saree claimed the strike was “precise” and said it was carried out in response to what he described as Saudi Arabia's violation of the airspace over Yemen's Saada and Hajjah provinces.
There was no immediate response from Saudi authorities to the Houthi claim.
The Houthis had last month also claimed attacks on Aramco facilities in Jizan and said they had targeted oil installations in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia's main west coast export gateway.
Aramco chief Amin Nasser said last week that recent attacks on the company's facilities had caused some production interruptions but expressed confidence that operations could be restored quickly. He said the attacks had not caused any material operational or financial impact.
The latest incident comes amid growing strains on the 2022 truce in Yemen's conflict between the Iran-backed Houthis and the country's internationally recognised government, which is supported by Saudi Arabia.
The Houthis seized control of Yemen's capital, Sanaa, in 2014. The group also declared a blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea last month and threatened shipping through the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.
Saudi authorities have also blamed Iran-aligned armed groups in Iraq for attacks on the kingdom's oil facilities.
The incident comes amid heightened regional tensions following the US-Israel war on Iran. Saudi Arabia on Friday signed a defence pact with Turkiye and Pakistan as regional security concerns continue to grow.