Saudi Aramco’s administrative building in Dharan, eastern Saudi Arabia, was hit in attacks by the Iran-aligned Houthis on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, amid an escalation of the Saudi-Houthi standoff in recent days.
Limited fire was reported at Aramco’s headquarters as Saudi Arabia continued to intercept and destroy missiles towards Dharan and the capital Riyadh.
A ballistic missile launched by the Houthi militias toward Dhahran city was intercepted and destroyed, Major General Turki Al-Malki, Official Spokesperson of the Coalition to Restore Legitimacy in Yemen, was quoted as saying by the Saudi Press Agency.
The Saudi-led coalition has also intercepted and destroyed missiles targeting the capital city of Riyadh and the southern region of Saudi Arabia, the official Saudi news agency said.
Attacks and attempts at attacks on Saudi cities and Aramco’s administrative building show that the Houthis are escalating their fight following the two deadly missile strikes at the Riyadh international airport over the weekend.
The conflict is expanding as a Saudi-led force is fighting the Houthis to regain control of most of Yemen’s coast that lies on the Red Sea and the critical Bab el-Mandeb Strait, through which Saudi Arabia’s oil exports from the Yanbu port to Asia typically pass.
The Houthis pledged in July to disrupt Saudi shipments while allowing other traffic through Bab el-Mandeb.
The hit at Aramco’s HQ comes hours after Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, sought to reassure markets that the Kingdom’s energy supply remains resilient and that Riyadh is the “capital of energy security.”
Prince Abdulaziz on Monday touted the resilience of the Kingdom, telling the WPC Energy Congress that energy resilience “must also be measured by the ability to maintain, repair, reroute, substitute and recover. Above all, it must be measured by the ability to continue delivering under pressure.”
Oil prices rose above $106 per barrel in Asian trade on Wednesday after Iranian officials told Reuters the country’s forces were planning to further intensify strikes on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz, deploying new tactics.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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