GULF OF SUEZ. A tanker crosses the Gulf of Suez towards the Red Sea before entering the Suez Canal, in El Ain El Sokhna in Suez, Egypt, September 25, 2020.
The drone strike on the two gas tankers in Egyptian waters renews energy security concerns about the nearby Suez Canal and a related pipeline, a vital export route for Saudi Arabian oil since the beginning of the Iran war
DUBAI, UAE – A drone strike that sparked fires on two gas vessels in Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Damietta has raised a new threat to shipping through the Suez Canal, one of the last major export routes available to Saudi oil amid the expanding US-Iran war.
No one has claimed responsibility for what Egypt’s cabinet said on Thursday, July 30, was an unidentified drone that caused a fire on two vessels at Damietta a day earlier. The port lies near the Suez Canal, which links the Mediterranean and Red Seas.
The drone hit the US-owned gas storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that spread to a second vessel, people familiar with the incident said.
