Yemen's Houthi rebels unleashed a barrage of drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabia that targeted key facilities including natural gas and desalination plants early Sunday, Saudi state-run media reported, temporarily cutting oil production at one site.
The pre-dawn salvo marked the latest escalation in the rebels' attacks on the kingdom as the war in Yemen rages into its eighth year and peace talks stall.
The attacks did not cause casualties, the Saudi-led military coalition fighting in Yemen said, but damaged nearby civilian vehicles and homes.
Hours after oil giant Aramco's CEO told reporters the attacks had no impact on oil supplies, the energy ministry acknowledged that a drone strike targeting the Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company caused "a temporary reduction in the refinery's production."
The disruption, coming as oil prices spike in an already-tight energy market, "will be compensated for from the inventory," the ministry said in a statement, without elaborating.
The assaults came as Saudi Arabia's state-backed Aramco, the world's largest oil company, announced its profits surged 124% in 2021 to $110 billion, a jump fuelled by renewed anxieties about global supply shortages and soaring oil prices.
Aramco, also known as the Saudi Arabian Oil Co., released its annual earnings after weeks of intense volatility in energy markets triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Punitive sanctions on Russia, among the world's largest exporters of crude and petroleum products, have added turmoil to the market.
The international oil benchmark Brent crude spiked over $107 on Sunday after nearly hitting a peak of $140 earlier this month. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have so far resisted Western appeals to increase oil production to offset the loss of Russian oil as gasoline prices skyrocket.
Brig. Yehia Sarie, a spokesman for Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis, said the rebels had launched "a wide and large military operation," firing ballistic missiles and bomb-laden drones at Aramco facilities and other "sensitive targets."
He described the assault as retaliation for the Saudi-led "aggression and blockade" that has turned much of Yemen into a wasteland.
The Saudi-led military coalition said aerial strikes targeted a range of facilities: an Aramco liquified gas plant and petrochemicals complex in the Red Sea port of Yanbu, a power station in the country's southwest, a desalination facility in Al-Shaqeeq on the Red Sea coast, an Aramco oil facility in the southern border town of Jizan and a gas station in the southern city of Khamis Mushait.
The extent of damage on Saudi infrastructure and energy facilities remained unclear, and the ministry said only the Yanbu refinery saw a temporary drop in output.
A joint venture between Aramco and China, the $10 billion Yanbu Aramco Sinopec Refining Company on the Red Sea pumps 400,000 barrels of oil a day.