Riyadh and Doha shut oil and LNG facilities after drone strikes

• Two intercepted drones at Ras Tanura
• Drone attacks on QatarEnergy plants
• Oman’s Duqm port also hit

Saudi Arabia has temporarily shut down the Ras Tanura oil refinery after damage from what it said was debris from two intercepted drones landed on the facility on Monday.

QatarEnergy is also halting production at its facilities in Ras Laffan and Mesaieed Industrial City as a result of Iranian drone attacks.

The incident at Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia’s eastern province resulted in a limited fire, which was put out by response teams, the state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said, quoting an official at the ministry of energy. No one was injured, it said.

“Some operational units were shut down as a precautionary measure, without any impact on the supply of petroleum products to local markets,” the official said.

Ras Tanura, one of nine refineries in the kingdom, is part of an energy complex owned by Saudi Aramco in the eastern province. The refinery has a capacity of 550,000 barrels per day.

On Sunday, two suspected Iranian drones targeted Oman’s Duqm commercial port, injuring an expatriate worker, the UAE’s Wam news agency reported.

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In a joint statement Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Jordan, Kuwait, Qatar, the UAE and the US condemned what they described as Iran’s indiscriminate use of missiles and drones against regional countries.

Explosions were heard on Saturday in Iran’s Kharg Island, which processes 90 percent of Iran’s crude exports, Reuters reported.  

Aramco shares closed 1.5 percent higher at SAR26.18 on Tuesday. The stock is up nearly 10 percent so far this year.