Saudi oil terminal on alert after terror threat

Times Online October 27, 2006

By Michael Evans, Defence Editor of The Times

The threat of a seaborne terrorist attack on one of Saudi Arabia’s principal oil terminals in the Gulf led today to heightened patrols by an Italian-led coalition naval task force in the area.

Warships were asked to keep a 24-hour watch for any suspicious vessels heading for the Ras Tanura terminal, which is the world’s biggest offshore oil facility after intelligence reports indicating that al-Qaeda was threatening to attack the Saudi terminal or a refinery in Bahrain.

The Royal Navy has one warship in the Gulf at present, HMS Kent, a Type 23 frigate which is armed with a 4.5inch gun that could blast a small vessel out of the water. The warship is part of Coalition Task Force 152 that patrols the international shipping lane.

However, Ministry of Defence sources said although the frigate was in the region, it was not involved in the current force that was guarding the Ras Tanura terminal, which has a capacity to handle six million barrels of oil a day.

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