Fire at Egypt's Damietta LNG terminal as maritime security firms report a drone strike on a US-linked vessel

A fire broke out at the liquefied natural gas terminal at Egypt's Damietta port on Wednesday, 29 July 2026 (7 Mordad 1405). The British maritime security firm Ambrey said at least one drone struck the Marshall Islands-flagged floating storage and regasification unit Energos Winter, a vessel chartered by the US company New Fortress Energy and operating at the Damietta gas terminal. According to published reports, the fire then spread to a second vessel, the Gaslog Salem.

Those reports say emergency crews brought the blaze under control, no casualties were reported, and port operations were not significantly disrupted. No group has claimed responsibility for the incident.

Accounts of the cause differ: some Egyptian security sources have rejected the drone-strike reports and attributed the fire to a technical fault in the engine room of an older vessel, while international maritime security assessments support the attack account. The significance for energy markets is that the apparent target is LNG infrastructure in the Mediterranean, outside the Strait of Hormuz.