Saudi Red Sea refineries not threatened by volcano

KHOBAR, Saudi Arabia, May 23 (Reuters) – Recent seismic activity in a volcanic region in Saudi Arabia does not present nearby oil refineries with any danger, officials said on Saturday.

Authorities have evacuated thousands of people from the northwestern al-Ais region after a series of tremors hit the volcanic area over the past few weeks, culminating with a 5.4 Richter scale tremor on Tuesday, few hours after a 4.8 tremor.

Saudi Arabia has three oil refineries on the Red Sea coast, two of which in the port of Yanbu, about 150 km away from al-Ais.

“I don’t think it’s going to have any impact…It’s not going to have a significant impact. We are 150 km away from the area,” said a source at the export-oriented 400,000 bpd Samref joint-venture refinery between Aramco and Exxon Mobil.

Reuters