The Samref refinery in Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea coastal city of Yanbu was the target of an aerial attack early on Thursday, with minimal impact on operations, an industry source told Reuters, as Iran is following through on its threats to target energy infrastructure across the Gulf.
The Samref refinery, a joint venture of Saudi oil giant Aramco and U.S. supermajor ExxonMobil, has the capacity to process about 400,000 barrels per day of crude into gasoline, jet fuel, diesel, marine fuel oil, propane, and sulfur. A total of 35% of the production is gasoline, while heating oil and diesel account for 30% of the product slate.
Aramco and Exxon have just agreed to expand the facility into an integrated petrochemical complex.
The refinery with a vital location on the Red Sea is now apparently considered a legitimate target by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which issued on Thursday warnings of evacuation for oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Qatar, including the Samref refinery.
Brent Crude prices jumped early on Thursday as Iran escalated attacks against energy infrastructure in the region and threatened that more attacks would target the Gulf oil and gas producers.
Aramco, for its part, has reportedly restarted operations at the Kingdom’s biggest refinery, Ras Tanura on the Gulf, which was shut as a precaution in the early days of the war following a drone strike in the area.
Iran targeting the complex at Yanbu, however, could threaten the only route of Saudi crude out of the region.
Yanbu is the only currently open export route for the Saudi Arab Light crude, as the Kingdom is scrambling to boost loadings from the port with the Strait of Hormuz de facto closed.
The Saudis are expected to boost oil exports through Yanbu to a record high of 3.8 million barrels per day (bpd) this month.
Of particular concern to these plans is the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, where the Iran-aligned Houthis targeted vessels two years ago, but have been noticeably absent from the conflict so far.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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