Saudi Aramco’s response team has controlled a limited fire at the Shaybah NGL facility in southeast of the kingdom.
There were no injuries and no interruptions to Saudi Aramco’s oil operations, the company said. "We will provide further details as they become available," it added.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia's Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources Minister Khalid Al-Falih said that at 6:20 am on August 17, a processing unit of Shaybah’s natural gas plant was targeted by explosive-laden drones, resulting in a limited fire, a report said.
The fire was quickly controlled and extinguished resulting in minor damage and with no causalities to personnel, he said. Saudi Arabia’s oil production and exports were not interrupted as a result of this terrorist attack.
Yemen’s Houthi rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Houthi claimed responsibility for the attack in a televised speech.
Shaybah is more than 1,000 km away from Houthi-controlled territory in northwestern Yemen. The field is located near the border with the UAE, Saudi Arabia's main partner in the coalition which has been battling the Houthis since 2015 in order to restore Yemen's ousted government.
The Shaybah oilfield is able to pump 1 million barrels a day, just under 10% of Aramco’s total production capacity of about 12 million barrels a day.
The field is in one of the most remote corners of Saudi Arabia -- so remote it’s called the “Empty Quarter” -- and linked to the main export terminals by a 645-km pipeline.
Al-Falih also stressed that Saudi Arabia condemns in the strongest terms this cowardly attack, and affirms that this action of sabotage is a continuation of the series of vulgar attacks targeting the global oil supply chain that includes those that were recently launched against oil pipelines in the kingdom and tankers in the Arabian Gulf.
He emphasized that these attacks not only target Saudi Arabia, but also the global energy security and through that the global economy, demonstrating once again the imperative for the global community to confront all terrorist entities that carry out such acts of sabotage, including the Iranian-backed Houthi militias in Yemen.
