RIYADH: An official source at the Ministry of Energy said on Thursday that important energy facilities in the Kingdom have recently been subjected to multiple attacks, including oil and gas production, transportation, and refining facilities, as well as petrochemical facilities and the electricity sector in Riyadh, the Eastern Province, and Yanbu Industrial City.
These attacks resulted in the death of one Saudi national from the industrial security personnel of the Saudi energy company and the injury of seven other Saudi nationals from the company, in addition to the disruption of a number of operational activities at key facilities within the energy sector, the source added.
These attacks included one of the pumping stations on the East-West Pipeline, leading to a loss of approximately 700,000 barrels per day in throughput. This pipeline is considered the main route for supplying global markets during this period.
The Manifa production facility was also targeted, resulting in a reduction of approximately 300,000 barrels per day from its production capacity. Additionally, the Khurais facility had previously been targeted, leading to a reduction of 300,000 barrels per day from its production capacity, bringing the total reduction in the Kingdom’s production capacity to approximately 600,000 barrels per day.
The attacks also extended to major refining facilities, including SATORP in Jubail, Ras Tanura refinery, SAMREF refinery in Yanbu, and Riyadh refinery, directly affecting exports of refined products to global markets. Processing facilities in Ju’aymah were also affected by fires, impacting exports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and natural gas liquids.
The continuation of these attacks leads to reduced supply and slows recovery, thereby affecting the security of supply for consuming countries and contributing to increased volatility in oil markets.
This has already negatively impacted the global economy, particularly with the depletion of a significant portion of operational and emergency inventories, which has affected the availability of supplies and limited the ability to respond to this supply shortfall.
