It was the worst attack on Middle East oil facilities since Saddam Hussein set fire to Kuwait’s oil wells in 1990.
Drones – or possibly cruise missiles – traveling 500 kilometers (310 miles) across Saudi territory undetected hit at the heart of the kingdom’s oil industry and knocked out five percent of the world’s oil supply.
As a result, oil prices spiked almost 20 percent. That is still lower than the recent $85 height in October 2018 when tensions between the US and Iran were ratcheting up.
Saudi Arabia believes it can have the facility back up and running in a matter of weeks, but if it takes more than six weeks to fix the plants and restore production, oil prices could head towards the $85 a barrel mark. So the situation reflects a real test for state-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco.
The whole world ask why Saudi Arabia’s billion-dollar defences failed to protect its oil facilities and how it affects oil prices and what will be next?
Aramco already has begun shipping equipment from the U.S. and Europe to rebuild damaged facilities, said Fahad al-Abdulkareem, the general manager of southern operations at Aramco.
Saudi officials say there is little sense of calm at the highest levels of the company and the Saudi government, however. It could take some contractors up to a year to manufacture, deliver and install made-to-measure parts and equipment, the Saudi officials and the oil contractor said.
Source: https://cnb.cx/2ldOTrV
