The Middle East energy hub suffers another blow as a fire at a UAE storage and distribution center exacerbates fears of supply disruptions.

PANews reported on March 3 that debris from an interceptor drone crashed, causing a fire at Fujairah, a major oil trading hub in the UAE, the latest in a series of events affecting key energy facilities in the Middle East. Civil defense forces are working to control the blaze. Earlier on Tuesday, another fire was reported in the area, and operations at a major oil storage terminal and a refinery had been suspended the previous day. Fujairah is a crucial bunkering port and one of the largest oil storage and trading centers in the Middle East. Located outside the Strait of Hormuz, it holds strategic importance for the UAE. Through a pipeline connecting the region's storage tanks to oil fields in Abu Dhabi, Fujairah also serves as a key alternative export route for the UAE. However, the pipeline's capacity is still insufficient to fully replace all of the UAE's oil flows through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.