Riyadh
Drone attacks sparked fires at two Saudi Aramco oil facilities early Saturday, the interior ministry said, in the latest assault on the state-owned energy giant as it prepares for a much-anticipated stock listing.
Yemen’s Houthi group claimed responsibility for drone attacks on two Saudi Aramco plants in the kingdom’s Eastern Province on Saturday, the group’s military spokesman said on Al-Masirah TV.
The broadcaster said the Houthis had deployed 10 drones against the sites in Abqaiq and Khurais, and the group pledged to widen the range of its attacks on Saudi Arabia, which leads a coalition fighting them in Yemen.
“At 4.00 am (0100 GMT) the industrial security teams of Aramco started dealing with fires at two of its facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais as a result of… drones,” the ministry said in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency. “The two fires have been controlled.”
The statement added that an investigation had been launched after the attack in the kingdom´s Eastern Province but did not specify the source of the drones.
Last month, an attack claimed by Yemen´s Huthi rebels sparked a fire at Aramco´s Shaybah natural gas liquefaction facility – close to the Emirati border – but no casualties were reported by the company.
In recent months, the Huthi rebels have carried out a spate of cross-border missile and drone attacks targeting Saudi air bases and other facilities in what it says is retaliation for a Saudi-led air war on rebel-held areas of Yemen.
Abqaiq facility is home to the company´s largest oil processing plant, according to its website.
Meanwhile, Pakistan on Saturday strongly condemned the drone attack on Saudi oil processing facility Buqyaq and the Khurais oil field causing fire, material damage and disruption of its operation.
Foreign Office in a statement said such acts to sabotage and disrupt commercial activities causing fear and terror cannot be condoned. Pakistan hopes that such attacks will not be repeated given the potential damage they can cause to the existing peaceful environment in the region, it said.