Unverified footage on social media showed a large fire at the refinery.
Tag: Refining
The government said 235 dead had been taken to medical centers but did not give a total casualty estimate.
Saudi Aramco resumed crude loadings on Friday at its Ras Tanura terminal in the Gulf after a near four-month halt, shipping data showed, as the world’s biggest oil exporter joined a rush to move cargoes amid industry hopes of a return to normal.
Oil prices fell on Friday morning and are heading for steep weekly losses amid easing supply concerns as more stranded oil tankers exited the Strait of Hormuz, even though a cargo vessel was hit near Oman on Thursday.
Ships have begun sailing through the Strait of Hormuz under a new scheme by the U.N.’s shipping agency to evacuate vessels trapped there by the conflict, a spokesperson said on Wednesday.
Three stranded tankers carrying 5 million barrels of crude oil were exiting the Strait of Hormuz on Wednesday, with two heading to Asia, shipping data showed, as the interim deal between Iran and the U.S. unlocks more supply stuck in the Gulf, bringing down global prices.
Oman said it would keep the Strait of Hormuz open to shipping without imposing any tolls and had designated two temporary routes north and south of the existing shipping lane to facilitate the safe passage of vessels departing the region.
An evacuation plan to enable hundreds of ships with some 11,000 seafarers stranded in the Gulf to sail through the Strait of Hormuz is underway after Iran and the U.S. reached a ceasefire deal, the United Nations’ shipping agency said on Tuesday.
Oil tanker operators are reaping record profits after nearly doubling the hire cost of vessels going through the Strait of Hormuz and wider Gulf region this week on rising demand as traffic through the waterway slowly picks up, according to shipping data and sources.
Four liquefied natural gas tankers controlled by Qatar were heading into the Strait of Hormuz on Monday, despite a fall in ship traffic after Iran announced that it had again closed the waterway over the weekend, shipping data showed.