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WORLD NEWS Tuesday 15 december 2020
'External source' causes oil tanker blast off Saudi Arabia

By JON GAMBRELL mines into the southern Red
DUBAI, United Arab Emir- Sea, which could be car-
ates (AP) — An oil tanker ried toward Jiddah.
off Saudi Arabia's port city The Red Sea has been
of Jiddah suffered an ex- mined previously. In 1984,
plosion early Monday after some 19 ships reported strik-
being hit by "an external ing mines there, with only
source," a shipping compa- one ever being recovered
ny said, suggesting another and disarmed, according
vessel has come under at- to a U.N. panel of experts
tack off the kingdom amid investigating Yemen's war.
its yearslong war in Yemen. Any new mining could en-
The attack on the Singa- danger global shipping
pore-flagged BW Rhine, and be difficult to find for
which had been contract- any minesweeping opera-
ed by the trading arm of tion — raising the risks and
the kingdom's massive Sau- potentially the cost of in-
di Arabian Oil Co., marks surance for those sailing in
the fourth assault targeting the region. A stepped-up
Saudi energy infrastructure campaign of drone-boat
in a month. attacks deeper into the
It also apparently shut This undated photo released by AERIAL PHOTOGRAPHER SG shows the Singapore-flagged oil Red Sea likely would do the
down Jiddah port, the most tanker BW Rhine. same.
important shipping point for Associated Press "The series of escalations in
the kingdom, which later the Red Sea will certainly
said a bomb-laden boat state-run Saudi Press Agen- sea mines and drone boats crude stood above $50 a raise the risk profile of the
like the remote-controlled cy ran a statement quoting before in their long war barrel in trading Monday. region," said Ranjith Raja,
ones used by Yemen's an anonymous Energy Min- against a Saudi-led coali- The Red Sea, with the Suez the head of Middle East
Houthi rebels caused the istry official blaming the ex- tion. However, the Houthis Canal to the north and the and North Africa oil and
explosion. plosion on a bomb-laden have not commented on Bab el-Mandeb Strait to shipping research at Re-
The explosion renews con- boat. It did not blame any- last month's attack. the south, is a vital shipping finitiv. "This could in turn also
cerns about ship safety in one for the attack, despite Dryad Global said if it was lane for both cargo and increase the insurance pre-
the Red Sea, a crucial tran- the Houthis having used the Houthis behind Mon- global energy supplies. Its miums for added protec-
sit zone for global shipping drone boats in the past. day's blast, it "would repre- currents change seasonally tion on vessels operating
and energy supplies that "These acts of terrorism sent a fundamental shift in and now run north. Saudi in the region, which would
largely had avoided the and vandalism, directed both targeting capabilities Arabia recently accused have an impact on the
chaos of regional tensions against vital installations, and intent." the Houthis of dumping cost of shipment."q
involving the U.S. and Iran go beyond the kingdom Since mid-November,
last year. and its vital facilities, to the there's also been what
The BW Rhine had berthed security and stability of en- Saudi Arabia described as
at Jiddah on Saturday, car- ergy supplies to the world a bomb-laden drone boat
rying over 60,000 metric and the global economy," attempted attack at Ja-
tons of unleaded gasoline the statement said. zan, as well as a cruise mis-
from an Aramco refinery at The United Kingdom Ma- sile attack claimed by the
Yanbu for consumption in rine Trade Operations, an Houthis that struck an Ar-
the kingdom, according to organization under Britain's amco oil facility in Jiddah.
the data-analysis firm Re- royal navy, urged ships in The incidents come after
finitiv. It was there that the the area to exercise cau- tensions between the U.S.
incident appears to have tion and said investigations and Iran last year saw a se-
occured. were ongoing. It later said ries of escalating incidents
The ship was "been hit from Jiddah port had been shut in the Persian Gulf, the Strait
an external source whilst down for a "duration un- of Hormuz and the nearby
discharging," said Haifna, a known," without elaborat- Gulf of Oman. While the
tanker company under the ing. U.S. has put together a new
BW Group that owns and Dryad Global, a maritime coalition to monitor ship-
operates the ship. intelligence firm, also re- ping there after those inci-
The strike caused an ex- ported the blast. The U.S. dents, it doesn't operate in
plosion and fire onboard Navy's 5th Fleet, which pa- the Red Sea.
the ship, damaging its trols the Mideast, did not In recent weeks, an attack
hull. All 22 sailors on board respond to a request for in Iran killed a prominent
escaped without injury comment. scientist who founded Teh-
and firefighters later extin- The explosion comes af- ran's military nuclear pro-
guished the blaze, Haifna ter a mine exploded and gram two decades ago,
said. Some oil may have damaged a ship off Saudi an assault suspected to
polluted the water along- Arabia last month. Another have been carried out by
side the ship, though the mysterious attack targeted Israel.
company said it was still as- a cargo ship off the small The attack nudged up oil
sessing the damage. port city of Nishtun in Ye- prices, which already had
No group claimed responsi- men's far east earlier this been rising in recent days
bility for the attack. month. as Western countries be-
Some 12 hours after the at- Yemen's Iranian-backed gin distributing coronavirus
tack became public, the Houthi rebels have used vaccines. Benchmark Brent