Kuwait raises security alert level at oil and commercial ports

DUBAI: Kuwait has raised the security alert level at all of its ports, including the oil terminals, the state-run Kuwait News Agency reported on Friday, citing a decision by Trade and Industry Minister Khaled Al-Roudhan.

“The decision emphasises that all measures have to be taken to protect the vessels and the ports facilities,” it said.

The announcement comes after Yemen’s Houthi group on September 14 attacked two Saudi Aramco plants in Abqaiq and Khurais provinces.

Abqaiq is located 60 km (37 miles) southwest of Aramco’s Dhahran headquarters. It contains the world’s largest oil processing plant, handling crude from the giant Ghawar field and for export to terminals Ras Tanura – the world’s biggest offshore oil loading facility – and Juaymah. It also pumps westwards across the kingdom to Red Sea export terminals. Khurais, 190 km further southwest, contains the country’s second-largest oilfield.

The Houthis’ military spokesman, without providing evidence, had said that the attacks had achieved direct hits on refineries at both sites, which are over 1,000 km from the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and pledged a widening of attacks on Saudi Arabia.