Star Metro - Saudi military raises readiness levels after attacks

The massive Ras Tanura refinery on Saudi Arabia's Gulf coast went into partial shutdown on Monday after a strike by drones, three days into the Middle East war.

The complex run by the Saudi state oil giant Aramco is home to one of the largest refineries in the entire Middle East and a cornerstone of the kingdom's energy sector. The complex has a capacity of 550,000 barrels per day.

"The Saudi army has raised its readiness to full alert," the source close to the military told AFP after the incident.

Earlier, another source familiar with the incident at the refinery told AFP the attack caused a fire at the Ras Tanura, but the blaze was extinguished.

Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter, with most of its oil fields and petroleum infrastructure located along its eastern Gulf coast across the water from Iran.

"It depends if this is seen as a direct attack on Aramco by the Iranian leadership or a rogue drone that just came close," a source close to the Saudi government told AFP Monday.

"At this stage I think Saudi will watch and wait."

Military retaliation would be a possible option if Iran were seen as launching a targeted campaign against the kingdom's oil installations.

Saudi Arabia would target "Iranian oil facilities if Iran mounts a concerted attack on Aramco", the source said.

A Saudi defence ministry spokesman later confirmed that two drones had targeted the refinery and been intercepted, according to a statement posted by the Saudi Press Agency on X.

- 'Significant escalation' -

The complex also serves as one of the world's biggest oil ports.

Torbjorn Soltvedt, an analyst at risk intelligence company Verisk Maplecroft, said the incident marked a major uptick in tensions in the Gulf following a spate of barrages fired by Iran across the region.

"The attack on Saudi Arabia's Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran's sights," said Soltvedt in a note on the conflict.

"The attack is also likely to move Saudi Arabia and neighbouring Gulf states closer to joining US and Israeli military operations against Iran."

Near the capital, Riyadh, Iranian missiles targeting an air base were also intercepted, a Gulf source briefed on the matter told AFP.

The base houses US personnel and this is the third time it has been targeted in three consecutive days.

Saudi Arabia lambasted Iran over the weekend after Iran targeted Riyadh and its eastern region with strikes, warning that it reserved the right to defend itself, including by retaliating.

Saudi oil infrastructure has been hit in the past by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels.

In March 2022, the Houthis launched a drone attack targeting the YASREF refinery in Yanbu Industrial City on the Red Sea.

Three years earlier, Houthi-claimed aerial assaults on two Aramco facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia temporarily knocked out half of the kingdom's crude production.

S.Belanger--SMC