Oil loading operations at the United Arab Emirates' Fujairah emirate, a major bunkering hub and crude export terminal, have resumed after a drone attack and fire on Saturday, four sources told Reuters, but it was unclear if the operations were back to normal.
An Indian-flagged vessel loaded with 80,800 tonnes of United Arab Emirates' Murban oil, sailed for India on Sunday from Fujairah, India's government said.
The vessel, Jag Laadki, was loading oil at the single point mooring, when Fujairah terminal was attacked, India's Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas said on Sunday.
The vessel and all Indian seafarers on board are safe, the statement said.
The US-Iran war has already cut Middle Eastern oil production by over seven million barrels per day or seven per cent of global supply. Disruptions at Fujairah might force OPEC’s third-largest crude producer to shut down more production after already cutting output at its offshore fields.
Fujairah, outside the Strait of Hormuz, exported more than 1.7 million barrels per day of crude oil and refined fuels on average last year, according to Kpler data, a volume equal to about 1.7 per cent of daily world demand. It also has the Middle East’s largest commercial storage capacity for refined products.
Iran threatened new attacks on UAE ports on Saturday after US strikes on its Kharg Island facilities. Iran warned residents to leave areas near Jebel Ali port in Dubai and Khalifa port in Abu Dhabi as well as Fujairah, Iranian news agencies reported.
Abu Dhabi state oil firm ADNOC, which operates in the emirate, did not respond to a request for comment.
On Tuesday, ADNOC shut its Ruwais refinery. Bloomberg News earlier reported the resumption of oil loading operations in the emirate.
(Reporting by Sarah El Safty and Youssef Saba in Dubai, Gursimran Kaur in Bengaluru and Seher Dareen in London; Editing by Shri Navaratnam, Jamie Freed and Gareth Jones)
