A drone caused the fire that engulfed two gas vessels at Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta, the Egyptian cabinet said on Thursday, confirming for the first time that the blaze which broke out a day earlier was the result of an attack rather than an accident.
No party has claimed responsibility, and authorities are continuing their investigations while taking the necessary measures to protect Egypt's national security, the cabinet added.
British maritime security firm Ambrey said on Wednesday that a drone had hit a US-owned gas storage tanker at the port, in an initial assessment that raised concerns about the conflict spreading further across the Middle East. Three trading sources familiar with the incident said the drone struck the floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that spread to a second vessel, Gaslog Salem. British maritime risk group Vanguard said the Energos Winter had been hit by an unidentified projectile on its starboard side, and that the resulting fire was extinguished.
It was not clear who was responsible for the incident, which occurred shortly after Iran carried out a missile attack against US forces in Jordan, and after the US and Saudi Arabia struck Iran-backed paramilitary groups in Iraq. Through a video posted on social media, Reuters verified the location using port infrastructure, storage tanks and ship tracking data that matched archive and satellite imagery.
The vessel at the centre of the incident
The Energos Winter is a floating storage and regasification unit with a capacity of 138,250 cubic metres, owned by US company Energos Infrastructure. Its technical, safety and commercial operations are managed by Wilhelmsen Ship Management, a Singapore-based subsidiary of Norwegian company Wilhelmsen Group.
Egypt's response
Egypt's petroleum ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that the fires at Damietta port were dealt with immediately by firefighting and security teams and caused no injuries or deaths. Petroleum Minister Karim Badawi went to the site to oversee the response effort, the ministry said.
Damietta is home to Egypt's LNG export terminal, which Eni and TotalEnergies plan to use to liquefy and export Cyprus's first offshore gas, from the newly sanctioned Cronos field, once production begins in 2028.
Sources: CNA, Reuters
