The US blamed Iran for attacks that set two major Saudi Arabian oil facilities ablaze on Saturday, hitting more than half of crude oil supplies from the world’s largest exporter.
Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed responsibility for the attacks on Abqaiq, a vital oil processing centre south-west of Saudi Aramco’s headquarters in Dhahran, and the Khurais oilfield. The strikes occurred in the early hours of Saturday morning, marking the most successful strike to date on Saudi energy facilities by the Iranian-backed rebels.
The White House said Tehran was behind the assault. “Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply,” US secretary of state Mike Pompeo tweeted.
“There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen. We call on all nations to publicly and unequivocally condemn Iran’s attacks. The United States will work with our partners and allies to ensure that energy markets remain well supplied and Iran is held accountable for its aggression.”
Pictures and video posted on social media showed large fires at Khurais, which lies more than 500km from the Yemen border.
Saudi energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said early estimates showed that the attack caused a suspension of crude oil supplies of 5.7m barrels or more than 50 per cent of daily production. But he added that part of the loss of supplies to customers would be offset from inventories. He also said gas production had gone down by 50 per cent as a result of the attack.
“This terrorist attack is an extension of recent attacks that targeted oil and civilian infrastructures and pumping stations and oil tankers in the Arabian Gulf,” the prince said. “These attacks do not only target the kingdom’s vital installations but also international oil supplies and threaten their security.”
Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nassir said that the company had extinguished the fire, which left no injuries, and was working on restoring production levels.
Such a brazen attack by an Iranian proxy on the crown jewel of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s energy system will raise the overall geopolitical risk premium
Saudi Arabia supplies more than 10 per cent of global crude and is the world’s largest exporter of oil. The loss of more than 5m barrels a day would be the equivalent of 5 per cent of global oil supply.
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