April 7 (Reuters) – Iran on Tuesday attacked Saudi Arabia’s Jubail petrochemical complex, the heart of the kingdom’s downstream sector, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said in a statement, though it was not immediately clear what exactly was hit.
Jubail, a sprawling industrial city, houses massive, multi-billion-dollar joint ventures between state-backed oil giant Saudi Aramco and its petrochemical subsidiary SABIC, and Western energy majors.
The IRGC said the attacks were “in response to the enemy’s crimes in the aggression against (Iran’s) Asaluyeh petrochemical plants.”
It was not immediately clear which facility or facilities were hit. Video footage verified by Reuters showed smoke and flames rising from the direction of Jubail.
The IRGC said it had “effectively targeted with medium-range missiles and several suicide drones” the Sadara complex, a $20 billion joint venture between Aramco and Dow that was shut last week, and other facilities in Jubail including one belonging to ExxonMobil.
The IRGC also said it hit a petrochemical facility in nearby Juaymah. However, it indicated the facility was owned by Chevron Phillips and the company does not appear to have any facilities there, but rather in Jubail.
Saudi Arabia’s defence ministry earlier said that air defences intercepted and destroyed seven ballistic missiles launched towards the kingdom’s eastern region, adding that debris from the intercepted missiles fell near energy facilities.
Aramco declined to comment on reported attacks in Jubail and Juaymah. The Saudi government communications office and SABIC did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Kevin Liffey and Ros Russell)
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