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March 17 (Reuters) – Oil loading at the United Arab Emirates port of Fujairah was at least partly halted on Tuesday after a third attack in four days caused a fire at the export terminal, while operations at the Shah gas field remained suspended after an earlier attack.
The cascading disruptions threaten to completely sever the OPEC producer’s remaining crude export outlet from global markets, potentially deepening a crisis that has sent energy prices surging.
The UAE’s other export hubs are located within the Gulf, which has been effectively cut off from the world by Iran’s stranglehold of the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow waterway between Iran and Oman, through which a fifth of the world’s oil supply normally flowed.
The third-biggest OPEC producer’s daily crude oil output is down by more than half since the conflict started, with the effective closure of the strait forcing state oil giant ADNOC to implement widespread production shut-ins, Reuters has reported.
Loading of ADNOC crude remains suspended at Fujairah, said a source familiar with the situation.
Fujairah, which lies just outside the strait and is typically the outlet for more than 1 million barrels per day of the state company’s Murban crude, is still operating but at reduced capacity, according to Kpler.
Separately on Tuesday, an unknown projectile struck a Kuwait-flagged tanker 23 nautical miles east of Fujairah, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said.
Gulf Arab states, including the UAE, have faced more than 2,000 missile and drone attacks since the start of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran on February 28, striking U.S. diplomatic missions and military bases as well as oil infrastructure, ports, airports, ships and residential and commercial buildings.
Monday’s attack on the Shah field – located about 180 km (111.85 miles) southwest of Abu Dhabi and one of the world’s largest sour gas fields – adds to disruptions to the UAE’s energy sector.
The field, which is operated by ADNOC in a joint venture with Occidental Petroleum, supplies at least 500 million cubic feet of gas daily to the domestic grid. Operations were shut while damage is assessed and no injuries were reported, the Abu Dhabi Media Office has said.
Reporting by Jaidaa Taha, Muhammad Al Gebaly, Enas Alashray and Yousef Saba Additional reporting by Siyi Liu Editing by Kevin Buckland, Raju Gopalakrishnan and David Goodman
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