AN explosion struck a tanker off the Saudi port city of Jeddah, maritime sources said today without elaborating on the cause.

Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the blast, which the United Kingdom Marine Trade Operations (UKMTO) said occurred yesterday off Jeddah, a key Red Sea port and distribution centre for oil giant Saudi Aramco.

The incident comes after an explosion last month rocked a Greek-operated oil tanker docked at Saudi Arabia’s southern port of Shuqaiq, an attack that a Riyadh-led military coalition blamed on Yemen’s Huthi rebels.

Dryad Global, a London-based maritime intelligence firm, also reported yesterday’s explosion, saying it struck a vessel while “carrying out operations within the main tanker anchorage at the Saudi Aramco Jeddah port”.

The affected vessel may be the Dominican-flagged tanker Desert Rose or the Saudi-flagged Al Amal Al Saudi, it added.

Based on the coordinates offered by the UKMTO, oil shipping monitor Tanker Trackers identified the vessel as Al Amal Al Saudi.

“This is a bunkering tanker that fuels other vessels. No real impact on crude oil exports,” Tanker Trackers said on Twitter.

Today, however, the vessel’s owner, Singapore-based shipping company Hafnia in statement said, “BW Rhine has been hit from an external source whilst discharging at Jeddah… causing an explosion and subsequent fire onboard.”

An “external source” was responsible for the explosion that struck the Singapore-flagged oil tanker, it added. 

The incident comes as the Iran-backed Huthis step up attacks on Saudi Arabia in retaliation for the military campaign in Yemen. 

Last month, the rebels said they struck a plant operated by Saudi Aramco Jeddah with a Quds-2 missile. Aramco said that strike tore a hole in an oil tank, triggering an explosion and fire.

The attack underscores the vulnerability of Saudi Arabia’s multi-billion dollar oil infrastructure.

Saudi Arabia is stuck in a military quagmire in Yemen, which has been locked in conflict since the rebels took control of the capital Sanaa in 2014 and went on to seize much of the north.

Riyadh led a coalition that intervened to support the internationally recognised government the following year, but the conflict has shown no signs of abating since.

Saudi Arabia has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying sophisticated weapons to the Huthis, a charge Tehran denies. – AFP, December 14, 2020.