Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP)

Oil giant Saudi Aramco announced on Tuesday that a strike by Yemen's Houthi rebels on its Jeddah plant had left a "big hole" in the roof of an oil tank, triggering an explosion and a fire that was quickly extinguished .

Yemeni rebels, backed by Iran, fired a missile on Monday at a site of Aramco, located in the large city in western Saudi Arabia, igniting an oil tank.

"There is significant damage to the roof itself, it is a large hole of almost two meters by two meters," said the director of the factory, Abdallah al-Ghamdi, during a visit with the press organized by the company, a rare occurrence for this mastodon which weighs heavily on the world oil market.

An AFP reporter on the spot found that the upper edge of the tank had been blackened by fire and the ramps deformed by heat: "The fire was extinguished in a very short time, it only took about 40 minutes to cause a major fire in such a large tank, "added the plant manager, confirming that there had been no casualties.

- "Resilience" -

This plant, which has a total of 13 tanks, supplies refined products, including kerosene, to the west of the country.

A flagship of the Saudi economy, Aramco is of paramount importance to the world's largest exporter of crude.

The company was listed on the Riyadh Stock Exchange last December and its market capitalization once exceeded 1.5 trillion dollars.

British Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has condemned an attack which "contradicts Houthi claims to end the conflict" in Yemen.

"The Houthis must stop their aggression and work with the United Nations to achieve peace," he said on Twitter.

In September 2019, attacks on Aramco facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia in September caused extensive damage and temporarily halved the country's oil production.

The Houthis had also claimed responsibility for the attack, but Riyadh and Washington had accused Tehran of having "sponsored" it.

Iran denies providing weapons to the Houthis but does not hide its political support for the rebels.

“What happened yesterday is another hostile attack, similar to what happened” in September 2019, said Abdallah al-Ghamdi.

“However, this will only demonstrate Aramco's resilience and prove the reliability of our energy supply in the kingdom and beyond,” he added.

- "Terrorists"?

-

Airstrikes by the Houthis, who control the capital Sana'a and much of northern Yemen, have mainly targeted southern Saudi provinces along their shared border.

But Jeddah is, however, some 600 kilometers from this border.

The attack on Jeddah comes as Washington prepares to add the Houthis to its list of "terrorist organizations", a worrying move by aid workers who fear such a move could hamper the delivery of aid to Yemen.

After more than five years of war, the poorest country in the Arabian Peninsula is already plunged into the worst humanitarian crisis in the world according to the UN.

White House national security adviser Robert O'Brien said during a visit to Manila on Monday that the United States "is keeping all options open," urging the Houthis to "engage in a process of peace in good faith ".

On November 11, the UN reported the lack of progress towards a political solution and an end to the war while warning against the risk of the humanitarian crisis worsening.

In September 2019, a group of experts, created by the Human Rights Council, denounced the "multitude of war crimes" committed by the Houthis as well as by the coalition led by Saudi Arabia.

© 2020 AFP