Drone hits US-owned LNG tanker at Egypt’s Damietta port

A drone struck a U.S.-owned liquefied natural gas storage tanker at the Egyptian port of Damietta on Wednesday, July 29, 2026, causing a fire that spread to a second vessel and raising concerns that the ongoing regional conflict may be expanding. The incident occurred amid a day of significant military escalation elsewhere in the Middle East.

According to maritime security firm Ambrey, the drone hit the floating storage tanker Energos Winter, which is owned by U.S.-based Energos Infrastructure and sails under the Marshall Islands flag. The resulting fire spread to another vessel, the Gaslog Salem. Port services company Inchcape confirmed two gas tankers had caught fire. Ambrey reported that crews were evacuated and the fire was brought under control, with no injuries or fatalities. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Egyptian authorities confirmed a fire at the port but did not attribute it to an attack. The Petroleum Ministry stated that a fire broke out on a gasification vessel and a storage vessel and was dealt with immediately by emergency teams, with no casualties reported. Some Egyptian sources reportedly suggested a technical malfunction, but...