Persian Gulf Oil and Gas Production Hit for First Time! Major UAE Natural Gas Field Catches Fire, Operations Suspended

On Monday, March 16, local time, a fire broke out at the Shah natural gas field in the UAE after a drone attack.

According to the media office in the UAE capital, there are no reports of casualties so far, and rescue personnel in Abu Dhabi are responding to the blaze.

For safety reasons, operations at the gas field have been temporarily suspended, and officials are assessing the damage.

Shah is one of the country’s largest natural gas fields, a high-sulfur content field located in the Rub’ al Khali desert west of Abu Dhabi, operated jointly by ADNOC and Occidental Petroleum (OXY).

First attack on production facilities

As tensions in the Middle East region continue to rise, attacks on energy infrastructure in the Persian Gulf area have increased.

On the same Monday, Javier Blas, spokesperson for Iraq’s Ministry of Oil, confirmed that the Majnoon oil field in southern Iraq also came under attack, though he did not disclose specific details of the damage.

Javier Blas stated, “Today, there was further ominous news. This is the first time that oil and natural gas production facilities (rather than refineries, docks, and storage tanks) have been successfully targeted.” He also revealed, “Saudi Arabia has also experienced large-scale drone swarms.”

Last week, the UAE announced the temporary closure of the Ruwais refinery due to a fire caused by a drone attack; additionally, a key port in Fujairah, responsible for oil loading operations, was also suspended for the same reason. The port has experienced multiple airstrikes, with loading operations repeatedly halted and restarted. Just before this article was published on Tuesday, the port was again hit, and loading operations were suspended once more.

Fujairah is located in the Gulf of Oman, adjacent to the Strait of Hormuz, and is a critical route for exporting about 1 million barrels of Murban crude oil from the UAE daily—roughly 1% of global demand.

The conflict has nearly closed the Strait of Hormuz, making the port of Fujairah outside the strait a vital lifeline for the safe export of crude oil and fuels. However, with the port under attack, market nerves regarding oil supply disruptions have been tightened again.

(Source: Cailian Press)