The conflict in the Middle East appears to be spreading across the Red Sea to Egypt's Mediterranean coast. On the 29th (local time), a liquefied natural gas (LNG) storage and transport facility anchored at Egypt's Damietta port was attacked by an unidentified drone (unmanned aircraft), sparking a fire.
On this day, British maritime security firm Ambrey said a U.S.-owned gas storage tanker was hit by a drone attack at Egypt's Mediterranean Damietta port. Port services company Inchcape also said fires broke out on two gas carriers at Damietta port. The incident occurred shortly after Iran struck U.S. troops in Jordan with missiles and the United States and Saudi Arabia hit pro-Iran militias in Iraq.
Reuters, citing industry sources, said the drone attacked the floating storage unit Energos Winter. After the attack, the flames spread to the nearby gas carrier GasLog Salem. British maritime risk management firm Vanguard reported, "The starboard side of Energos Winter was hit by an unidentified projectile, causing a fire," adding, "It has now been extinguished."
Energos Winter is a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) with a storage capacity of 138,250 cubic meters. The vessel is currently owned by the U.S. corporations Energos Infrastructure. Operations and management are handled by another U.S. corporations, Wilhelmsen Ship Management.
The Egyptian government officially confirmed the fire but did not say whether it was caused by a drone attack. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. On the day, the Egyptian Ministry of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said in a statement, "Fires broke out on the Damietta port regasification ship and storage ship, but they were immediately extinguished under a pre-approved emergency response plan." Karim Badawy, Egypt's Petroleum Minister, visited the site to direct the response. There were no reported casualties from the strike.