- Houthi rebels claim drone attack on Maersk container ship.
- Attack includes missile strike on Israel’s Ben Gurion airport.
- Yemen seaports ‘out of service’ after Dec 26 Israeli airstrike.
Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed a drone attack on a container ship in the Arabian Sea on Dec. 27, stoking renewed concerns over Red Sea shipping amid another flare-up in attacks, reports Platts.
Drone attack on tanker
In a speech shared on X by Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree on Dec. 27, the group claimed that several drones hit the tanker near Yemen’s Socotra Island, calling the strike a response to a violation of its blockade on occupied Palestinian ports by the ship’s owner.
The container ship had been heading for Oman from the Spanish port of Algeciras, according to S&P Global Commodities at Sea data, before suddenly losing its AIS location signal around 23:40 GMT on Dec. 25. After several days without transmitting an AIS signal, the ship presented as sitting off Oman’s Port of Salah early Dec. 27.
The coordinated Houthi attack also involved a hypersonic missile attack strike on Israel’s Ben Gurion airport, Saree said, calling the incidents a response to an Israeli airstrike the previous day.
Yemeni ports “out of service”
The Israeli Defense Forces had claimed responsibility for a Dec. 26 attack on Yemen’s Hodeidah and Ras Isa seaports, a power plant at Ras Kanatib and Sanaa International Airport, keeping critical infrastructure offline as energy links remain in focus.
Russia’s Tass news reported that the attacks had taken the two Yemeni ports “completely out of service” and set fire to oil tanks at both locations.
Repeated attacks on the two ports, most recently on Dec. 19, constrained Yemen’s ability to draw critical fuel supplies while chipping away at oil storage infrastructure along the coastline.
According to CAS data, fuel shipments to the two ports have so far averaged less than 30,000 b/d, down from an average of 60,000-70,000 b/d in October and November.
The Ras Isa terminal is connected by pipeline to Yemen’s Masila, Marib, and Shabwa basins, which produce about 7,000-10,000 b/d of light, sweet crude under the ownership of predominantly state-owned companies Yemen General Corp. for Oil, Gas and Mineral Resources and PetroMasila.
Sitting outside Houthi control in the east, all the oil has been refined locally following attacks by the rebel group on the Bir Ali and Ash Shihr export terminals in 2022.
Did you subscribe to our daily Newsletter?
It’s Free Click here to Subscribe!
Source: Platts
