A fire at the Hawiyah gas plant in Saudi Arabia has caused deaths and injuries, a Saudi Aramco spokeswoman said yesterday. She said the fire was caused by a gas leak but declined to give further details. Saudi-owned Al Arabiya television quoted unnamed Saudi sources as saying around 10 people were thought to have died. State oil and gas firm Aramco is undertaking projects to boost output at a natural gas liquids recovery plant in Hawiyah. The project will provide petrochemical feedstock to the industrial cities of Jubail and Yanbu in the kingdom, the world's largest oil exporter. The Hawiyah programme will produce 310,000 barrels of ethane and NGL products by 2008, through the Hawiyah plant and an expansion of the Juaymah gas fractionation plant near Ras Tanura. It was not clear if the fire would delay the project.