The apparent attack would be the 4th in a month targeting Saudi energy infrastructure as the kingdom wages a war against Iran-backed rebels in Yemen.
Dubai, United Arab Emirates — An oil tanker off Saudi Arabia’s port city of Jiddah suffered an explosion early Monday after being hit by « an external source, » a shipping company said, suggesting another vessel has come under attack off the kingdom amid its. The apparent attack on the Singapore-flagged BW Rhine, which had been contracted by the trading arm of the kingdom’s massive Saudi Arabian Oil Co., marks the fourth assault targeting Saudi energy infrastructure in a month. It also apparently shut down Jiddah port, the most-important shipping point for the kingdom. It also renews concerns about ship safety in the Red Sea, a crucial transit zone for global shipping and energy supplies that largely had avoided the chaos of regional tensions involving the U.S. and Iran last year. The BW Rhine had berthed at Jiddah on Saturday, carrying over 60,000 metric tons of unleaded gasoline from an Aramco refinery at Yanbu for consumption in the kingdom, according to the data-analysis firm Refinitiv. It was there that the incident appears to have occurred. The ship was « hit from an external source whilst discharging, » said Haifna, a tanker company under the BW Group that owns and operates the ship. The strike caused an explosion and fire onboard the ship, though all 22 sailors on board escaped without injury and firefighters later extinguished the blaze, Haifna said. Some oil may have polluted the water along the ship, though the company said it was still assessing the damage.
