Saudi Arabia: Operations Halted at Several Energy Facilities Due to Recent Targeting

SadaNews Economy - A responsible source at the Saudi Ministry of Energy stated on Thursday evening that vital energy facilities in the Kingdom have recently been subjected to multiple attacks, including oil and gas production, transportation and refining facilities, petrochemical facilities, and the electricity sector in Riyadh, the Eastern Province, and Yanbu Industrial City.

The source indicated that these attacks resulted in the death of one security industrial employee from the Saudi Energy Company and the injury of seven other company personnel, as well as the disruption of several operational activities in key facilities within the energy system.

These attacks included one of the pumping stations on the vital East-West pipeline, which led to the loss of about 700,000 barrels per day from pumping quantities through the line, which is the main route for supplying global markets at this time.

The Munaifa production facility was also targeted, resulting in a production decrease of about 300,000 barrels per day from its capacity, while the Khurais facility had previously been targeted, which led to a production decrease of 300,000 barrels per day from its capacity, resulting in a reduction of the Kingdom's production capacity by 600,000 barrels per day.

The targeting extended to key refining facilities, including SATORP facilities in Jubail, Ras Tanura Refinery, Samref Refinery in Yanbu, and Riyadh Refinery, which directly affected exports of refined products to global markets.

Additionally, processing facilities in Al-Juaima experienced fires, affecting exports of liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) and natural gas liquids.

The source stated that the continuation of these attacks leads to supply shortages and slows the pace of recovery, which reflects on the supply security of beneficiary countries and contributes to increasing volatility in oil markets. This has negatively impacted the global economy, especially with a significant portion of operational and strategic (emergency) reserves being consumed, affecting the availability of reserves and limiting the ability to respond to this supply shortage.