Explosions in Egypt port may signal spread of war
Explosions hit a natural gas loading port in Egypt on Wednesday after a US-owned floating storage tanker was reported hit by a drone.
Explosions hit a natural gas loading port on the Mediterranean Sea in Egypt on Wednesday, and British maritime security company Ambrey said a US-owned floating storage tanker there had been hit by a drone, in a potential spread of the Middle East war.
The drone hit a vessel in the Egyptian port of Damietta on Wednesday, causing a fire that spread to another vessel, according to three trading sources familiar with the incident. British maritime security firm Ambrey identified the vessel as the US-owned floating storage tanker Energos Winter, noting that the crew were evacuated and the fire had been brought under control. Port services firm Inchcape stated in a separate message that two gas tankers had caught fire at Damietta, while two separate security sources assessed the likely cause of the blast as a drone strike. Trading sources familiar with the incident specified that the blaze spread from the Energos Winter to another vessel, the Gaslog Salem.
Media additions
The Energos Winter is a floating storage and regasification unit with a storage capacity of 138,250 cubic metres. It is owned by US-based firm Energos Infrastructure, with its technical, safety and commercial operations managed by Wilhelmsen Ship Management, also a US company. Egypt's petroleum ministry stated that a fire broke out on a gasification vessel and a storage vessel at Damietta port and was dealt with immediately under approved emergency response plans by firefighting and security teams. Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi travelled to the site to oversee response efforts. The Egyptian petroleum ministry's statement made no mention of a drone attack, noting only that the fire caused no injuries or fatalities and that emergency and technical teams continued working on the response and assessing the impact.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the incident at the Mediterranean port.
The incident unfolded on a volatile day of wider regional escalations. Earlier on Wednesday, the United States and Saudi Arabia struck Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraq, marking the first time Riyadh publicly joined strikes alongside Washington. Washington and Riyadh stated they struck the armed groups in retaliation for drone attacks on Saudi oil targets launched from Iraq. Iraq's Popular Mobilisation Forces stated that at least 20 members were killed and 32 wounded in the joint strikes targeting several bases across Iraq. Iraqi footage showed men shouting Shi'ite sectarian slogans and carrying the bodies of slain fighters in body bags out of a hospital in Mosul. The Iraqi presidency denounced the strikes as an unacceptable attack and a flagrant violation of sovereignty, while Prime Minister Ali al-Zaidi's office urged parties to avoid escalation.
US President Donald Trump vowed to "beat the f***ing shit" out of Iran for firing on US troops days after he halted air strikes. Fox News quoted Trump saying, We'll be hitting them hard,
and We're going to beat the fucking shit out of them.
Iran confirmed overnight that it had fired on US bases in Jordan and at ships in the Strait of Hormuz, and also spurned an Omani proposal to jointly manage the strait. Jordan's military reported shooting down five Iranian missiles, while Iran's Revolutionary Guards stated they fired several ballistic missiles at US military installations in Jordan and struck three tankers that were attempting to transit through the Strait of Hormuz along an unauthorised route. The US military stated its air defences had averted a surprise Iranian attack on US troops in the region hours before the joint attacks on Iraq.
Oil markets reacted sharply to the escalation. Brent crude futures rose more than eight per cent to push the benchmark well above $US90 a barrel, reversing a plunge that occurred earlier in the week when Trump had unexpectedly halted US strikes over the weekend. Fighting has continued for five months since the launch of Operation Epic Fury in February.
