Drone attacks set Saudi crude processing plants ablaze

Drone attacks set ablaze the Saudi Arabian crude processing plant at Abqaiq — the largest of its kind in the world — and a second processing plant at the 1.45mn b/d Arab Light Khurais field at dawn today, a spokesman for the Saudi Arabian interior ministry said today.

The processing plant at Abqaiq is state-owned Saudi Aramco's main centre for processing Arab Light and Arab Extra Light crude.

The fires were brought under control by state-owned Saudi Aramco, said the spokesman, without giving any information about casualties or the extent of the damage caused by the drone attacks.

Yemen's Houthi rebels, who are fighting a war against local Saudi-backed forces, said they had targeted the two processing plants, located in eastern Saudi Arabia, using 10 drones.

"The air force carried out a massive offensive operation using 10 drones targeting processing plants in Abqaiq and Khurais that are affiliated to Aramco in eastern Saudi Arabia," Houthi armed forces spokesman brigadier-general Yahya Saree told the group's Al-Masirah television station today.

Saree said the attack is "the second part of operation Balanced Deterrence" and "part of our legitimate right to respond to the criminal attacks and continued siege of our country that have gone on for five years." He added that further "wider and more painful attacks" were planned.

Today's incident follows a similar drone attack on Saudi Arabia's 1mn b/d Shaybah oil field on 17 August that Aramco said caused a limited fire at an NGL plant, but did not impact crude production.

Saree, at the time, described that attack as "the first part of operation Balanced Deterrence."