DUBAI (BLOOMBERG) – Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed that they launched attacks with missiles and drones on Saudi Aramco in the kingdom’s southern Jazan region.

The rebels also targeted Abha and Jazan airports as well as Khamis Mushait base and other key targets inside Saudi Arabia in response to air strikes on Yemen, Houthi spokesman Yahya Saree said on television.

He didn’t give a date or more details on the attacks.

Brent crude futures jumped as much as 1.9 per cent to US$60.62 a barrel in London.

Saudi Aramco didn’t immediately respond to a request for confirmation.

Jazan is the site of a 400,000-barrels-a-day Saudi Aramco refinery, but the city, near the border with Yemen, isn’t home to crude oil production facilities or major export terminals.

The Jazan refinery and petrochemical complex is expected to be fully operational in the second half of 2020, Aramco said at the time of its initial public offering.

The Iran-backed Houthis have been fighting a Saudi-led military coalition since 2015, a war that has regularly sent tensions in the Gulf soaring.

They have repeatedly claimed responsibility for attacks on targets in Saudi Arabia, most notably the Sept 14 aerial attacks that temporarily paralysed half of the kingdom’s production capacity.

The US and Saudi Arabia, however, said Iran was behind that assault.

Source: Read Full Article