Perturbações no Golfo Pérsico! Campo de gás natural dos EAU pega fogo, suspensão de operações

Local time on Monday (16 March), a fire broke out at the Shah natural gas field in the UAE after a drone attack.

According to the media office of the UAE capital, there have been no reports of casualties so far, and rescue teams in Abu Dhabi are responding to the blaze.

For safety reasons, operations at the gas field have been temporarily suspended, and officials are assessing the damage.

Shah is one of the largest natural gas fields in the country, a high-sulfur content field located in the Rub’ al Khali desert west of Abu Dhabi, operated jointly by ADNOC and Occidental Petroleum (OXY).

First attack on the production side

As tensions in the Middle East region increase, attacks on energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf area have been rising.

Also on Monday, Iraq’s Oil Ministry spokesperson Javier Blas confirmed that the core asset, the Majnoon oil field in southern Iraq, was also attacked, though details of the damage were not disclosed.

Javier Blas stated, “Today, further ominous developments occurred. This is the first time that oil and natural gas production facilities (rather than refineries, docks, and storage tanks) have been successfully targeted.” He also revealed, “Saudi Arabia has also experienced large-scale drone swarms.”

Last week, the UAE announced the temporary closure of the Ruwais refinery due to a fire caused by a drone attack; additionally, a key port, Fujairah, experienced a halt in oil loading operations for the same reason. The port has been repeatedly attacked, with loading operations repeatedly suspended and restarted. Just before the publication on Tuesday, the port was again hit, and loading was suspended once more.

Fujairah is located in the Gulf of Oman, adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz, and is a critical route for the daily export of about 1 million barrels of Murban crude oil from the UAE, roughly accounting for 1% of global demand.

The conflict has nearly closed the Strait of Hormuz, making the port of Fujairah outside the strait a vital lifeline for the safe export of crude oil and fuels. However, with the port under attack, market nerves regarding oil supply disruptions have been tightened again.

(Source: Caixin)