Firefighters have extinguished a fire at Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery in southwestern Saudi Arabia, with no injuries reported.
The Saudi Energy Ministry said Aramco’s industrial security teams brought the blaze under control on Sunday, while relevant authorities continued with procedures to deal with the incident. The ministry did not disclose the cause of the fire.
“The fire that broke out early on Sunday at a facility at Saudi Aramco’s Jazan refinery in southwestern Saudi Arabia” was extinguished, the ministry said, adding that there were no injuries.
Jazan is located on the Red Sea near Saudi Arabia’s border with Yemen, placing the refinery in a strategically important area for the country’s energy infrastructure.
The incident comes less than two weeks after Aramco shut down its 400,000-barrel-per-day Jazan refinery following an attack by Yemen’s Houthi militants.
According to a note from consultancy IIR seen by Reuters, the July 27 attack damaged the refinery’s Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) complex and tank farm area.
The Houthis said at the time that they had targeted Aramco facilities in Jazan and Yanbu.
The attacks have heightened concerns about the security of Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure and the potential for wider disruption to energy supplies and shipping routes in the region.
The latest fire comes amid continued tensions surrounding the Red Sea and the wider Middle East, where attacks on energy facilities and shipping have raised concerns about the stability of global oil supplies.
Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser said last week that recent attacks on the company’s facilities had caused some production interruptions.
However, he expressed confidence that operations could be restored quickly and explained the attacks had not caused a material operational or financial impact on the company.
“The attacks had caused some production interruptions but that he was confident operations could be restored quickly,” according to the information provided.
The Jazan refinery is one of Saudi Arabia’s major oil-processing facilities and has a capacity of 400,000 barrels per day. Its recent shutdown followed damage to parts of the plant during the Houthi attack.
The Houthis have also declared a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea, saying it was in response to what they described as a Saudi siege of Yemen. Riyadh denied the allegation.
The developments have added to concerns over the safety of oil infrastructure and maritime routes around the Red Sea, particularly as regional hostilities continue.
Saudi authorities have not indicated whether Sunday’s fire was connected to the earlier attack or whether it will affect efforts to restore operations at the refinery.
For now, the Energy Ministry says the blaze has been brought under control, with authorities continuing to deal with the incident and investigate its circumstances.