By Sarah El Safty and Nidhi Verma
DUBAI, March 14 (Reuters) – Some oil-loading operations have been suspended in the United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah emirate, a major bunkering hub and crude export terminal, after a drone attack and fire on Saturday, industry and trade sources said.
The suspension comes hours after the U.S. attacked military targets on Iran’s Kharg Island oil export terminal and Iran’s Revolutionary Guards responded by saying that U.S. interests in the UAE – including ports, docks and military locations – were legitimate targets.
Fujairah, outside the Strait of Hormuz, is the outlet for about 1 million barrels per day of the UAE’s Murban crude oil – a volume equal to about 1% of world demand. Reuters could not immediately establish the impact on loadings.
Earlier this week, the International Energy Agency said the world is facing its biggest ever oil supply crisis due to the effective closing of the Strait of Hormuz, a channel along the Iranian coast, since the U.S. and Israel began airstrikes on Iran on February 28, with the UAE among producers forced to cut oil output.
The fire in Fujairah occurred after debris fell during the interception of a drone, but no injuries were reported, the emirate’s media office said.
Civil defence forces are handling the incident to contain the fire, it added.
Authorities did not provide any information about the suspension of operations.
Abu Dhabi state oil giant ADNOC, which operates in the emirate, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bloomberg News earlier reported that some oil-loading operations at Fujairah had been suspended after a drone attack and fire.
On Tuesday, ADNOC shut its Ruwais refinery in response to a fire at a facility within the complex following a drone strike, a source with knowledge of the situation said, in further disruption of energy infrastructure due to the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran.
(Reporting by Sarah El-Safty, Jaidaa Taha, Nidhi Verma and Yousef Saba; writing by Alex Lawler, Editing by Toby Chopra and Gareth Jones)
