A potentially major escalation emerged late Wednesday after a US-owned gas-processing vessel moored at Egypt's Mediterranean port of Damietta was reportedly struck by a drone, according to Reuters, citing maritime security firm Ambrey. Details remain scant, and this assessment is preliminary.

Ship-tracking data from Bloomberg shows the gas-processing vessel Energos Winter, which serves as a floating storage and regasification unit, moored off the port of Damietta. The port hosts the Damietta LNG terminal, a critical outlet for processing and exporting Egyptian and regional natural gas to Europe.

Reuters reported:

The drone hit floating storage tanker Energos Winter, causing a fire that then spread to another vessel, Gaslog ‌Salem, ⁠three trading sources familiar with the incident said. Two separate security sources said the cause ⁠of the blast was a drone strike.

The crew was evacuated, and the fire had ⁠been brought under control, Ambrey said, adding that no party ⁠had claimed responsibility.

Our partners at Newsquawk issued an alert at around 12:09 p.m. New York time that appeared to contradict Reuters' reporting on the floating storage and regasification unit:

Reports of a drone attack targeting Damietta port are false, Al Hadath reports, citing a source.

There are also conflicting reports on X: Some say it was a drone strike, while others say it was an industrial accident.

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