In recent months, Houthi rebels launched attacks from cross-border missile and drone strikes, targeting Saudi Arabia air bases and other facilities.
Riyadh| The state-run media in Saudi Arabia quoted the Ministry of Home Affairs as saying that two Saudi Aramco oil plants have been attacked by drones on Saturday. The official Saudi press agency reported that at 4 AM in the morning Saudi Aramco’s industrial security teams began to deal with the fire caused by the drone strikes at their plants in Abqac and Khurais. The agency has informed that the fire in the plants has been controlled.
The statement said that investigations have been launched after the attack in the eastern province of the state, but sources of the drone have not yet been ascertained. Last month, in an attack Yemen’s Houthi rebels opened fire at Aramco’s Shaiba natural gas facility, but no casualties were reported by the company.
In recent months, Houthi rebels launched attacks from cross-border missile and drone strikes, targeting Saudi air bases and other facilities. It is said that this attack is being carried out against the aerial warfare by the Saudi leadership on the rebel-occupied areas of Yemen.
Reuters reported that the attacks will cut the kingdom’s output by 5.7 million barrels per day (bpd), or more than 5% of global oil supply. The pre-dawn strikes follow earlier cross-border attacks on Saudi oil installations and on oil tankers in Gulf waters, but these were the most brazen yet, temporarily crippling much of the nation’s production capacity.
Saudi Arabia is the world’s biggest exporter, shipping more than 7 million barrels of oil to global destinations every day, and for years has served as the supplier of last resort to markets. While the Houthis claimed responsibility for the attack, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo put the blame squarely on Iran, writing on Twitter that there was “no evidence the attacks came from Yemen.”
Yemeni rebels took responsibility
Iran’s pro-Houthi rebels in Yemen have claimed responsibility for drone strikes on these two oil plants. Al-Masirah TV of the group has given this information. Al-Masirah said the rebels launched a major operation with 10 drone planes and refineries were targeted at Abqak and Khurais in eastern Saudi Arabia.
Saudi Aramco is the national petroleum and natural gas company of Saudi Arabia. It is the largest crude oil company in the world in terms of revenue.
Even before this, Aramco has been targeted by terrorists. Al-Qaeda suicide bombers tried to attack the oil company in February 2006 but failed.
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