Houthis Say They Hit Ras Tanura Refinery with a Ballistic Missile

The Houthis announced on Tuesday that they struck the Ras Tanura refinery, Saudi Arabia's largest refinery, with a ballistic missile, stating that the refinery located west of the Strait of Hormuz was attacked. Saudi authorities did not immediately confirm the attack.

Ras Tanura has a capacity of 550,000 barrels per day and was temporarily closed during the early months of the war with Iran as a precautionary measure. Bloomberg quoted a person familiar with the matter as saying that Saudi Arabia controlled a fire near the Ras Tanura plant in the early hours of the morning.

The Saudi-led coalition said it intercepted and destroyed two ballistic missiles launched by the Houthis toward Riyadh, as well as intercepted drones targeting two Saudi regions. Civil Defense issued a brief air raid warning in Riyadh on Tuesday afternoon, while most Saudi oil exports are routed through Ras Tanura and Yanbu.

The Houthis have escalated their attacks on Saudi Arabia since September, expanding a front in the broader war after a UN-brokered truce collapsed in 2022. Oil facilities and ports represent a sensitive target, as any disruption affects the Kingdom's exports and global energy markets.

What do these terms mean?

Ballistic missile: A missile that follows a curved trajectory after launch and falls onto its target due to gravity, often used in long-range attacks.

Refining capacity: The amount of crude oil a refinery can process daily to convert it into gasoline, diesel, and other products.

Barrels per day: A common unit of measurement in the oil sector that describes the rate of production or refining; a barrel is approximately 159 liters.