Ballistic missile damages upper floors of Saudi Aramco office in Dhahran

Confirmation of attack on oil giant

The Government of Saudi Arabia officially acknowledged the fact of a strike on the main administration of the state oil company Saudi Aramco, located in the city of Dhahran. This is stated in a statement by the country's Ministry of Energy.

According to the ministry, the incident occurred on the evening of 13 October. As a result of the hit, a "minor fire" broke out in the complex's infrastructure, but no one was injured.

Details of damage and the centre's role

Citing a source inside Saudi Aramco, Reuters reported that a ballistic missile struck the facility. The top three floors of one of the complex's buildings sustained damage.

The headquarters in Dhahran, located in the east of the kingdom, is a key hub: it houses Aramco's large operations centre. It is from here that the management of the extensive network of onshore and offshore oil wells, pipelines, refineries, and export terminals is carried out.

Context of escalation

Earlier, the Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia, which is conducting military operations against the Yemeni Houthis, reported that debris from a missile shot down over Dhahran fell on a residential area, Reuters reports.

On 10 October, 13 people were killed and more than 300 injured in a missile strike on Riyadh International Airport. The coalition blamed the Yemeni Houthis for this attack.

On 14 October, the Saudi Civil Defence Authority reported that four people were injured in the capital of the kingdom when debris from two Houthi missiles, which were intercepted and destroyed in the air, fell.

It is worth noting that the Houthis had previously threatened a "harsh and painful" response to coalition strikes on the capital of Yemen, the city of Sanaa.