FIRE AT ARAMCO FACILITY IN JIZAN EXTINGUISHED

A fire at a Saudi Arabian state oil company facility in the coastal city of Jizan has been extinguished, according to the Saudi Ministry of Energy. The blaze broke out early on Sunday at the site, which belongs to Aramco. The ministry said no casualties were reported and that authorities were completing procedures to deal with the incident. The ministry did not disclose what caused the fire.

Yemen's Houthi armed group claimed responsibility for the incident, stating that it had carried out a drone attack on the Aramco refinery in Jizan. Yahya Saree, a military spokesman for the Houthi-led government in Sanaa, said on X that the group "succeeded in targeting the Aramco refinery in Jizan with a drone, and the strike was precise". The Houthis said the attack was in response to Saudi Arabia's use of drones over the Yemeni provinces of Saada and Hajjah. The Saudi Ministry of Foreign Affairs had not commented on the claim at the time of reporting.

The incident marks the latest in a series of Houthi claims of attacks on Saudi oil facilities. Aramco chief Amin Nasser stated the previous week that recent attacks on the company's facilities had caused some production interruptions, though he expressed confidence that operations could be restored quickly. Nasser said the attacks had no material operational or financial impact on the company.