مصفاة جيزان التابعة لأرامكو السعودية تتعرض لهجوم مجدد مع تصاعد هجمات الحوثيين

Saudi Aramco's 400,000-barrel-per-day Jizan refinery was hit in a new attack Monday, threatening a major Red Sea refining hub while Saudi Arabia is moving more oil west to avoid the Strait of Hormuz.

The Financial Times reported that the facilities in southwestern Saudi Arabia were hit Monday, citing two people with knowledge of the incident. One described the strike as similar in scale to an attack last month that temporarily disrupted operations. Aramco has not yet commented on the latest damage, and no group has been confirmed as responsible.

Jizan has become a repeated target since fighting between Saudi Arabia and Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthis resumed this summer. The Houthis attacked Aramco facilities in Jizan and Yanbu in July, when smoke was visible over the refinery, and struck Jizan again in August.

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The refinery's location on Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast has become increasingly important since the war with Iran disrupted exports through Hormuz. Saudi Arabia has pushed more crude west through its East West pipeline toward Yanbu, even as operations at Jizan have suffered: the Financial Times reported that oil shipments from the refinery have fallen sharply since the previous attack, with no exports recorded in August. Houthi attacks have also threatened tankers and other oil infrastructure along the kingdom's alternative Red Sea export route.

Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser said last month that the earlier attacks caused temporary interruptions but had no material operational or financial impact on the company.

Oil prices were already climbing Monday after Iran proposed a new shipping corridor through Hormuz that Tehran says it would control, in addition to a restricted maritime zone requiring vessels to coordinate with Iran. The proposal followed a weekend of attacks at sea in which U.S. forces struck three Iranian oil tankers after Iran fired ballistic missiles at two U.S. warships. Brent was trading above $97 per barrel Monday.

By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com

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