Sabtu, 14 September 2019
Saudi Arabia: major fire at world's largest oil refinery after drone attack - Guardian News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7oeBbIdrvw
2019-09-14 10:16:59Z
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Drones hit 2 Saudi Aramco oil facilities, causes fires - Al Jazeera English
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6Do_zVL8_A
2019-09-14 09:36:20Z
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Saudi Arabia oil facilities ablaze after drone strikes - BBC News
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Drone attacks have set alight two major oil facilities run by the state-owned company Aramco in Saudi Arabia, state media say.
Footage showed a huge blaze at Abqaiq, site of Aramco's largest oil processing plant, while a second drone attack started fires in the Khurais oilfield.
The fires are now under control at both facilities, state media said.
A spokesman for the Iran-aligned Houthi group in Yemen said it had deployed 10 drones in the attacks.
The military spokesman told al-Masirah TV, owned by the Houthi movement and based in Beirut, that further attacks could be expected in the future.
Saudi officials have not yet commented on who could be behind the attacks.
"At 04:00 (01:00 GMT), the industrial security teams of Aramco started dealing with fires at two of its facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais as a result of... drones," the official Saudi Press Agency reported.
"The two fires have been controlled."
Abqaiq is about 60km (37 miles) south-west of Dhahran in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, while Khurais, some 200km further south-west, has the country's second largest oilfield.
What are the facilities?
The Abqaiq plant turns sour crude into sweet crude, producing up to 7 million barrels a day. Aramco says it is the world's largest "crude oil stabilisation plant".
Saudi security forces foiled an attempt by al-Qaeda to attack the Abqaiq facility with suicide bombers in 2006.
The Khurais oilfield came on line in 2009 and is the nation's second-largest after Ghawar. Khurais reportedly produces 1.5 million barrels a day with estimated recoverable oil reserves of more than 20 billion barrels.
Global oil markets are closed for the weekend so there was no immediate effect on prices.
The attacks come as Aramco prepares for a much-anticipated initial public offering (IPO), part of a reform package led by King Salman's son, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to reduce the economy's reliance on oil.
Who carried out the attacks?
The Iran-aligned Houthi rebel movement has been fighting the Yemeni government and a Saudi-led coalition.
Yemen has been at war since 2015, when President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi was forced to flee the capital Sanaa by the Houthis. Saudi Arabia backs President Hadi, and has led a coalition of regional countries against the rebels.
The coalition launches air strikes almost every day, while the Houthis often fire missiles into Saudi Arabia.
The Houthi military spokesman told al-Masirah that operations against Saudi targets would expand "as long as its aggression continues".
Houthi fighters were blamed for drone attacks on the Shaybah natural gas liquefaction facility last month and on other oil facilities in May.
There have been other sources of tension in the region, often stemming from the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran.
Saudi Arabia and the US both blamed Iran for attacks in the Gulf on two oil tankers in June and July, allegations Tehran denied.
In May, four tankers, two of them Saudi-flagged, were damaged by explosions within the UAE's territorial waters in the Gulf of Oman.
Saudi Arabia and then US National Security Adviser John Bolton blamed Iran. Tehran said the accusations were "ridiculous".
Tension in the vital shipping lanes worsened when Iran shot down a US surveillance drone over the Strait of Hormuz in June, leading a month later to the Pentagon announcing the deployment of US troops to Saudi Arabia.
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-49699429
2019-09-14 08:27:34Z
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Drone Strikes Spark Fires at Saudi Oil Facilities - The Wall Street Journal
Drone strikes caused fires that raged at two facilities of Saudi Arabia’s vast state oil company, the country’s interior ministry said, in what Yemen’s Houthi rebels described as one of their largest-ever operations inside the kingdom.
The strikes mark the latest in a series of attacks on the country’s petroleum assets in recent months, as tensions rise among Iran and its proxies like the Houthis, and the U.S. and partners like Saudi Arabia. The Houthis have also claimed credit for drone attacks on Saudi pipelines, tankers and other infrastructure during a four-year war.
On Saturday morning, Saudi officials were investigating attacks on Aramco’s facility at Abqaiq in the kingdom’s Eastern Province and another at the Hijra Khurais oil field, the interior ministry said in a tweet.
Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or the national firm better known as Aramco, describes the Abqaiq oil-processing facility as the largest crude-oil stabilization plant in the world. Khurais is the home of the country’s second-largest oil field.
Saudi officials with knowledge of the attack described a confusing, still unfolding set of circumstances. The officials said multiple drones attacked the facilities.
One Aramco executive said Aramco compounds, where workers live, had been evacuated.
The Saudi interior ministry said the fires were under control. Published images of the fire at the Abqaiq facility showed what appeared to be a huge blaze along with plumes of smoke.
The Saudi government didn’t say who was behind the attack. There were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Houthis took control of Yemen’s capital, Sana’a, in 2014 during a civil war. Since then, a Saudi-led coalition has fought a war to unseat the Houthis and reinstate a government supported by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and other regional powers.
Saudi Arabia and the U.S. say the Houthis are financed and armed by Iran, a charge that Tehran denies.
Drone and missiles launched by the Houthis have repeatedly struck inside Saudi Arabia in recent months, hitting airports and other civilian installations. At least one drone strike was launched from neighboring Iraq, according to U.S. officials.
Saudi and American officials have blamed Iran for targeting the kingdom’s oil infrastructure, including the use of mines to damage Saudi oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman in May.
Iran has denied striking Saudi targets or coordinating with Yemeni rebels to hit the kingdom’s oil equipment.
Disruptions in Saudi oil production could have ripple effects through the global economy, as the kingdom exports more crude petroleum than any other country.
Saudi officials have called for the international community to help protect its oil infrastructure.
Recently reimposed U.S. sanctions on Tehran have crippled its oil industry and sent its economy into a tailspin, raising fears of a broader conflict in the Middle East. The U.S. action came after President Trump pulled out of a 2015 international deal to curb Iran’s nuclear program, saying it didn’t go far enough to rein in Tehran’s regional ambitions.
Write to Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com and Summer Said at summer.said@wsj.com
Copyright ©2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8
https://www.wsj.com/articles/drone-strikes-spark-fires-at-saudi-oil-facilities-11568443375
2019-09-14 08:20:00Z
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Tropical storm Humberto gets closer to the area devastated by a hurricane in northwestern Bahamas - CNN
The new storm system is expected to move "very near" those islands Saturday, bringing tropical-storm-force winds and heavy rainfall, the National Hurricane Center said. The Bahamas will likely see up to four inches of rain with some isolated areas getting up to six inches.
Humberto is not expected to produce significant storm surge in the northwestern Bahamas, the center said.
Regardless of wind strength, "there will be rain ... over (an) area that certainly doesn't need any rain," CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.
A tropical storm warning was in effect for the northwestern Bahamas, excluding Andros Island, the center said.
Heavy rainfall and flash flooding could also affect parts of eastern Florida, Georgia and South Carolina this weekend and early next week. Coastal areas from central Florida to South Carolina will see up to four inches of rain.
The "chance of heavy rainfall affecting coastal North Carolina early next week continues to diminish," the center said.
It's expected to become a hurricane
Humberto is expected to become a hurricane in two to three days as it gradually continues to strengthen, the hurricane center said.
Early Saturday, Humberto was churning at 40 mph and its high power winds extended 90 miles outward from its center.
Over the next few days, the storm will have a change in steering pattern that will cause it to slow down and turn northward off the east coast of Florida in 36 to 48 hours, according to the center.
"Since there is increasing confidence that the storm will remain well offshore of the coast of Florida, the tropical storm watch for that area has been discontinued," the center said.
Swells generated by the tropical storm are expected to increase and affect the coasts of central Florida to South Carolina through early next week. These swells could cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions, the center said.
The storm comes at the peak of the Atlantic hurricane season -- which is usually in the weeks surrounding September 10, when weather conditions favor storms forming quickly.
Bahamas grappling with devastation
Meanwhile, hundreds are still missing in the aftermath of the powerful Category 5 hurricane that smashed into the Abacos Islands and Grand Bahama this month.
The death toll stands at 50 but is expected to rise as search and rescue crews sift through the flattened neighborhoods.
"We are a nation in mourning," Prime Minister Hubert Minnis said in a statement. "The grief is unbearable following the devastating impact of Hurricane Dorian, which has left behind death, destruction and despair on Grand Bahama and Abaco, our second and third most populous islands."
About 3,900 evacuees have been processed through south Florida by air and sea so far, officials said.
The number includes US citizens, legal residents, Bahamians and people from other countries who evacuated the islands after the storm hit.
https://www.cnn.com/2019/09/14/us/tropical-storm-humberto-saturday-wxc/index.html
2019-09-14 05:36:00Z
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Jumat, 13 September 2019
John Bercow vows to stop Johnson 'robbing a bank' with no-deal Brexit - CNN International
Bercow said he would allow Parliament to use "additional procedural creativity" to thwart any attempt to circumvent legislation.
His speech, at the annual Bingham lecture in London on Thursday, comes after a bill aimed at preventing a no-deal Brexit was made law Monday. Later that day, Parliament was suspended, or prorogued, for five weeks at Johnson's request.
But Johnson, who came to power on the promise that he would deliver Brexit by October 31, "do or die," has said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask Europe for any delay. The new legislation compels him to do so if no deal is reached by October 19.
"One should no more refuse to request an extension of Article 50 because of what one might regard as the noble end of departing from the EU as soon as possible, than one could excuse robbing a bank on the basis that the cash stolen would be donated to a charitable cause immediately afterwards," Bercow said.
The Speaker announced on Monday that he will stand down by October 31 -- the day the UK is set to leave the European Union -- after a decade in the position.
Bercow said in his Thursday speech that it was "astonishing" that anyone entertained the idea of Johnson disobeying the law, as such a move "would be the most terrible example to set to the rest of society."
He said that if the government came close to ignoring the bill, Parliament "would want to cut off such a possibility and do so forcefully."
"If I have been remotely ambiguous so far, let me make myself crystal clear. The only form of Brexit that we have, whenever that might be, will be a Brexit that the House of Commons has explicitly endorsed," Bercow added.
He said that if "that demands additional procedural creativity in order to come to pass, it is a racing certainty that this will happen." Neither the "limitations of the existing rule book nor the ticking of the clock will stop it doing so," he continued.
Tough week
Bercow's speech added to another tough week for the Prime Minister, who rejected accusations Thursday that he lied to the Queen over his controversial prorogation of Parliament in the run-up to the Brexit deadline.
Johnson has always insisted that his decision was a routine move that allowed the government to start a new parliamentary session with a fresh legislative agenda. Critics describe it as an audacious ploy to reduce the amount of time available to the opposition to block a no-deal Brexit.
But the Prime Minister has faced a string of setbacks since he announced his intention to prorogue Parliament.
He has lost his working majority in Parliament and failed to secure a new election. He also ousted rebellious Conservative lawmakers, including former Cabinet ministers and Winston Churchill's grandson, after they voted against him on the legislation passed on Monday.
On Wednesday, a Scottish court ruled that his government's advice to the Queen, which led to the five-week prorogation, was "unlawful."
According to the full ruling, released Thursday, one of the three judges said the suspension was motivated by the "improper purpose of stymying Parliament."
"There was, and is, no practical reason for a prorogation for what is, in modern times, an extraordinary length of time," Lord Carloway, Scotland's most senior judge, said.
The ruling paves the way for a showdown in the UK Supreme Court next week -- where judges will hear appeals on the Scottish case as well as an English challenge filed by prominent anti-Brexit campaigner Gina Miller.
Bercow added on Thursday that the chaos since the 2016 referendum vote to leave the EU has opened him to the idea that the UK may need a written constitution.
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/09/13/uk/john-bercow-boris-johnson-brexit-intl-gbr/index.html
2019-09-13 10:46:14Z
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Potential Tropical Storm Threatens Bahamas Rescue Efforts - The New York Times
A potential tropical storm is brewing in the Atlantic and by late Friday could threaten areas of the Bahamas recently devastated by Hurricane Dorian, forecasters warned.
The new storm is not expected to pack nearly the destructive power of Dorian, a Category 5 hurricane that killed at least 50 people and left widespread damage across the islands. But the storm could pose a challenge to rescuers, who were still searching for about 1,300 missing people as of Thursday.
At 2 a.m. Friday, the approaching storm system, packing sustained wind speeds of 30 miles per hour, was about 210 miles southeast of the hard-hit Abaco Islands, according to the National Hurricane Center. It was expected to gain strength and bring tropical storm-force winds — defined as sustained winds of 39 to 73 miles per hour — and heavy rainfall to the northwest Bahamas on Friday and Saturday, forecasters said. A tropical storm warning was in effect for much of the area.
Parts of Florida’s east coast could get tropical storm-force winds and heavy rain over the weekend, and residents were advised to monitor the storm’s progress. The storm was moving slowly as of Friday morning, at just three miles per hour, but forecasters expected it to gain speed through the weekend.
Significant storm surge was not expected, forecasters said. But parts of the Bahamas were expected to get three to five inches of rain, while the Florida coast through southeastern Georgia could get two to four inches.
The storm would be named Humberto if it becomes strong enough to be classified as the year’s ninth tropical storm. The National Hurricane Center said at 11 p.m. Thursday that it was 80 percent likely to reach that strength within 48 hours, and 90 percent likely within five days.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/13/world/americas/tropical-storm-bahamas-humberto.html
2019-09-13 10:00:00Z
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