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Saudi Arabia warns over oil supplies after attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels

 Firefighters try to extinguish a blaze at an Aramco terminal in the southern border town of Jizan, Saudi Arabia, early Sunday, March 20, 2022. Yemen's Houthi rebels unleashed a barrage of drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabia early Sunday that targeted a liquified natural gas plant, water desalination plant, oil facility and power station, Saudi state-run media reported (Saudi Press Agency via AP)
 Firefighters try to extinguish a blaze at an Aramco terminal in the southern border town of Jizan, Saudi Arabia, early Sunday, March 20, 2022. Yemen's Houthi rebels unleashed a barrage of drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabia early Sunday that t  Firefighters try to extinguish a blaze at an Aramco terminal in the southern border town of Jizan, Saudi Arabia, early Sunday, March 20, 2022. Yemen's Houthi rebels unleashed a barrage of drone and missile strikes on Saudi Arabia early Sunday that targeted a liquified natural gas plant, water desalination plant, oil facility and power station, Saudi state-run media reported (Saudi Press Agency via AP)

Saudi Arabia has said it “won’t bear any responsibility for any shortage in oil supplies to global markets” after attacks by Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi rebels affected the kingdom’s production.

The announcement comes as the kingdom remains in lockstep with Opec and other oil-producing countries in a deal limiting increases in production and as energy prices rise higher amid Russia’s war on Ukraine.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency quoted the Foreign Ministry as saying that “the international community must assume its responsibility to maintain energy supplies” in order to “stand against the Houthis”.

The repeated Houthi attacks will affect “the kingdom’s production capacity and its ability to meet its obligations”, the statement added, threatening the “security and stability of energy supplies to global markets”.

Benchmark Brent crude oil stood at more than 112 dollars a barrel in trading on Monday.

On Sunday, Yemen’s rebels launched a series of attacks targeting the kingdom’s oil and natural gas production.

The Saudi Energy Ministry had said the attacks at the Yanbu petrochemicals complex on the Red Sea coast led to a temporary drop in oil output.

The drone and missile strikes ignited a fire at a tank at a petroleum distribution site in the Saudi port city of Jiddah and affected production at the gas facility in Yanbu.

The overall extent of damage at the installations remained unclear.

The Saudi government condemned the attacks as posing a threat to the security of oil supplies “in these extremely sensitive circumstances” in the global energy market.

The relentless wave of strikes on Sunday marked one of the most intense Houthi barrages on the kingdom, exposing Saudi defence vulnerabilities and recalling the dramatic September 2019 attacks on two key oil installations that knocked out half of Saudi Arabia’s total oil production.