Drones launched by Yemen's Houthi rebels attacked the world's largest oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia and another major oilfield Saturday, sparking huge fires at a vulnerable choke point for global energy supplies.

The drone attacks affected up to half of the supplies from the world's largest exporter of oil, though the output should be restored within days, multiple news outlets reported and Saudi Arabia's energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz later confirmed. He stated the country will make up for some of the loss with oil stocks, while the U.S. Energy Department released their own statement saying the U.S. "stands ready to deploy resources from the Strategic Petroleum Oil Reserves if necessary to offset any disruptions to oil markets."

In a statement released by the Saudi Press Agency, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz said explosions at Saudi Aramco's Khurais and Abqaiq plants caused several fires that were controlled, but there were no injuries.

Rising smoke from the fires at the sites could be seen by satellites in space.

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First word of Saturday's assault came in online videos of giant fires at the Abqaiq facility, some 330 kilometres northeast of the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Machine-gun fire could be heard in several clips alongside the day's first Muslim call to prayers, suggesting security forces tried to bring down the drones just before dawn. In daylight, Saudi state television aired a segment with its local correspondent near a police checkpoint, a thick plume of smoke visible behind him.

The attack by the Iranian-backed Houthis in the war against a Saudi-led coalition comes after weeks of similar drone assaults on the kingdom's oil infrastructure, but none of the earlier strikes appeared to have caused the same amount of damage. The attack likely will heighten tensions further across the Persian Gulf amid an escalating crisis between the United States and Iran over its unravelling nuclear deal with world powers.

The Houthis, who hold Yemen's capital, Sanaa, and other territory in the Arab world's poorest country, took responsibility for the attacks in the war against a Saudi-led coalition that has fought since 2015 to reinstate the internationally recognized Yemeni government. But the U.S. blamed Iran, with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tweeting, "There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen."

"Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world's energy supply," Pompeo added

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