World
Oil prices to spike up after drone attack on Saudi Aramco
The company has stalled production after a drone attack on two large bases of Saudi Arabia’s state-run oil company Aramco on Saturday morning. Due to this, the production of this biggest oil and gas company of Saudi Arabia has come down by 50 percent. Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman reported on Saturday that drone strikes had affected the production of 5.7 million barrels of crude oil per day, nearly half of the company’s total production, according to the news agency Reuters and the Wall Stories Journal. Its impact can be seen on other countries of the world including India.
Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz issued a statement on Saturday informing that production at Aramco’s Abqaiq and Khurais plants was stalled due to the drone attack. Both the plants have suffered significant losses due to severe fire. The company is working towards starting production again soon, but this may take time. He also informed that the company will compensate the reduction in oil production from its oil reserves. The responsibility of this attack has been claimed by the Houthi rebels in Iran. At the same time, they have warned that this campaign of attacks on Saudi will intensify in the future. They have deployed 10 drones to carry out more such attacks on Saudi.
The largest oil plants are Abqaiq and Khurais
Abqaiq’s oil refinery, targeted by drone strikes, produces 7 million barrels of crude oil per day. According to Aramco, it is the world’s largest crude oil stabilization plant. In 2006, Al Qaeda attempted a suicide attack on this plant, which was thwarted by the security forces. The Khurais plant, which became the second victim of the drone attack, is the second largest plant in the country after Ghawar. It started in 2009. The plant also produces 1.5 million barrels of crude oil per day. Also, there is more than 20 billion barrels of oil in reserve here.
Who are the Saudi Aramco attack rebels?
Houthi rebels have been waging war against Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni government for a long time. Last month also, Houthi rebels attacked a similar drone at Saudi Arabia’s Shaybah Natural Gas site. In May too, they targeted several Saudi oil companies. Houthi rebels have been fighting a war against the Yemeni government since 2015. In 2015, these rebels forced the then President of Yemen, Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi, to escape from the capital Sana’a. The Houthi rebels occupy most of the country, including Yemen’s capital, Sana’a. Saudi Arabia has also come under attack for supporting Hadi and helping Yemen’s army against Houthi rebels. The Saudi army is also carrying out airstrikes on the Houthi rebels’ bases in Yemen every day. To avenge this, Houti is also launching missile and drone strikes on Saudi Arabia.
