West Asia conflict | Saudi Aramco refinery, Kurdish, Israeli oil & gas fields shut amid airstrikes

Amid the ongoing tensions in the West Asia due to strikes by US, Israel and Iran in the region, Saudi Arabia's ⁠state oil giant ⁠Aramco ‌has ​shut down its Ras ​Tanura ⁠refinery.

Quoting a source, Reuters reported that it has been as a precautionary measure ⁠after ‌it was hit ‌by ⁠a drone. The source added that the ⁠situation ⁠was under control.

Two drones were intercepted at the facility, with debris causing a ‌limited fire, the Saudi Defence Ministry's spokesperson said on Al Arabiya TV. They added there were no injuries.

Videos of smoke plummeting from the refinery have gone viral on social media.

Oil giant Saudi Aramco's 550,000 barrels per day (bpd) Ras Tanura refinery is part of an energy complex on the kingdom's Gulf coast. It also serves as a critical export terminal for Saudi crude oil, which was shut as a safety measure.

In Iraqi Kurdistan, companies including DNO, Gulf Keystone ⁠Petroleum , Dana Gas and HKN Energy have stopped output at their respective fields as a precaution, with no damage reported.

Concerns about supply disruptions sent Brent crude futures surging roughly 10 per cent on Monday to over $82 a barrel.

The Israeli government instructed Chevron to temporarily shut down the giant Leviathan gas field where it is in the process ⁠of expanding capacity ‌to around 21 billion cubic metres a year as part of a $35 billion export deal to Egypt.

A spokesperson for Chevron, which also operates the Tamar gas field offshore Israel, said ‌its facilities were safe.

Energean shut down its production vessel serving smaller gas fields.

Explosions were heard in Iran, on Saturday, in Kharg Island, which processes 90 per cent ⁠of Iran's crude exports. It was unclear how the facilities were impacted.

Iran, the third largest producer in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, pumps about 4.5 per cent of ‌global oil supplies. Iran's output is about 3.3 million barrels per day of crude, plus 1.3 million ‌bpd of condensate and other liquids.

Some of the refinery's units were shut as a precautionary measure but the supply of petroleum and its derivatives to ⁠local markets was not ⁠affected, Saudi state news agency SPA said, citing an unnamed official at the energy ministry.

However, Ras Tanura's shutdown will likely add to supply uncertainties as shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, through which around a fifth of global oil consumption flows, grinds to a near-halt after vessels were attacked around it on Sunday.

"The attack on Saudi Arabia’s Ras Tanura refinery marks a significant escalation, with Gulf energy infrastructure now squarely in Iran’s sights," principal Middle East analyst at risk intelligence firm Verisk Maplecroft Torbjorn Soltvedt said.

Saudi Arabia's heavily guarded ​energy facilities have been targeted previously, most notably ​in September 2019 when drone and missile attacks on the Abqaiq and Khurais plants temporarily knocked out more than half of the kingdom's crude production.