Bahrain’s state-owned Bahrain Petroleum Co. (Bapco) declared force majeure on its shipments Monday after an Iranian attack set its refinery on fire, the company and local media said.
BAPCO "hereby serves notice of force majeure on its group operations which have been affected by the ongoing regional conflict in the Middle East and the recent attack on its refinery complex," said a statement posted by the company.
The state-run Bahrain News Agency carried the announcement of the force majeure, a legal maneuver that releases a company from its contractual obligations because of extraordinary circumstances.
It said the company’s operations "have been affected by the ongoing regional conflict in the Middle East and the recent attack on its refinery complex."
It insisted that local demand could still be met.
The force majeure follows a similar move by other energy producers in the region, which have reported damage from Iranian strikes and have already curbed or cut production.
Bahrain's sprawling al Ma'ameer oil facility was hit, an Agence France-Presse (AFP) report said, causing a fire and damage.
Oil prices spiked further on Monday, heading toward $120 before easing amid fears of supply disruptions from the conflict.
Asian stock markets also plunged in response to soaring oil prices, with investors running for the hills as crude surged to its highest level since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
The market instability came as Iran continued to target the Gulf with missile and drone barrages, hours after Washington ordered embassy staff to leave Saudi Arabia.
The State Department said in a travel advisory that it had "ordered non-emergency U.S. government employees and U.S. government employee family members to leave Saudi Arabia due to safety risks."
Meanwhile, Mojtaba Khamenei, a son of Iran’s late supreme leader, was named Monday as the Islamic Republic’s next ruler, putting a hard-line cleric in charge as the war spread across the Mideast.
The 56-year-old cleric with close ties to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard was elected as the new supreme leader following the death of his father, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on Feb. 28 as the U.S. and Israel launched attacks on Iran.
The younger Khamenei, who had not been seen or heard from publicly since the war started, had long been considered a potential successor.
The war has killed at least 1,230 people in Iran, at least 397 in Lebanon and at least 11 in Israel, according to officials.
Israel reported its first soldier deaths Sunday, saying two were killed in southern Lebanon, where its military has expanded operations on the pretext of fighting Hezbollah.
