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Unverified footage circulating on social media appears to show fires inside Saudi Aramco's Riyadh refinery, with satellite fire-detection data showing unusual thermal activity at the site, amid unconfirmed reports of a Houthi attack on the Saudi capital on Saturday.
NASA's FIRMS satellite monitoring system detected higher-intensity VIIRS thermal hits across the refinery, and satellite imagery showed thick smoke over Riyadh.
Neither Saudi authorities nor Aramco had commented, and the Houthis had not claimed an attack.
Open-source imagery from NASA Terra appeared to show a large fire and probable emergency flaring at the refinery, with thick smoke drifting toward northern Riyadh.
The cause of the fire could not be independently verified.
Flames and a large plume of smoke were seen near the fuel storage depot at Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport last month, after which the Houthis said they had attacked "sensitive" sites in the Saudi capital with missiles and drones.
A fire broke out at Aramco's Jazan refinery in July following what social media reports and satellite fire-detection data described as a Houthi ballistic missile and drone attack.
The Houthis attacked the Jazan refinery again in August, two days after Saudi Arabia signed the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement with Türkiye and Pakistan.
The refinery processes 400,000 barrels of crude a day.
The Houthis declared a naval blockade against Saudi Arabia in the Red Sea in July, citing what they said was a Saudi siege, which Riyadh denies.
In September, a wave of Houthi attacks wounded more than 70 people and ignited fires at several oil facilities and utilities in southern Saudi Arabia, according to the Saudi Energy Ministry.
A fire also broke out at the Yanbu refinery that month, though its cause was unclear.
Saudi Arabia's oil exports and energy infrastructure have come under mounting pressure since the Iran war began in late February.
What began with Iranian attacks and disruptions around the Strait of Hormuz has increasingly spread into the Red Sea, where Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis reopened a front against Riyadh in July after the collapse of a ceasefire that had largely contained major fighting since 2022.
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