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Egypt said Thursday that a drone hit two ships at its Mediterranean port of Damietta, as attacks on energy infrastructure widen across the Middle East.
Cairo said an initial investigation found that a drone attack Wednesday caused a fire onboard the ships, according to the state owned Middle East News Agency . No one has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The fires broke out on a regasification ship and a storage vessel, according to Egypt's Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources .
Damietta is the site of a liquefied natural gas hub. The Energos Winter floating storage and regasification unit and the GasLog Salem LNG tanker were damaged, according to the trade intelligence firm Kpler.
"The situation was immediately dealt with in accordance with the approved emergency and rapid response plans through the coordinated efforts of the competent authorities and the on-site firefighting and safety teams," the ministry said in a statement.
The unclaimed attack comes as Iran, its Houthi allies in Yemen and Iraqi militias have widened strikes on energy infrastructure across the region. Crude oil futures were trading slightly lower Thursday despite the escalation.
The strike in Egypt demonstrates that energy infrastructure near the Suez Canal also faces security threats, as the Houthis try to control traffic through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.
The Houthis declared a maritime embargo of Saudi Arabia last week, jeopardizing the kingdom's energy exports through the Red Sea.
The Saudis can redirect some oil through a pipeline that stretches across Egypt. But Riyadh would have to unload some oil at the pipeline and then retrieve the cargo on the Mediterranean Coast because the Suez Canal is too shallow for fully loaded supertankers.
The U.S., meanwhile, launched a renewed wave of strikes against Iran on overnight, in retaliation for an attempted surprise missile attack by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps on American forces in the Middle East.
The Houthis claimed Monday that they targeted pipeline infrastructure in Saudi Arabia that transports oil to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The pipeline has played a key role in moving Saudi oil exports to market as Iran disrupts the Strait of Hormuz with attacks on tankers.
Iran-allied militias in Iraq, meanwhile, launched drones at oil infrastructure in Saudi's Riyadh and Eastern regions this week. U.S. and Saudi warplanes carried out joint strikes Tuesday against Iraqi militias in retaliation.
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