Saudi Arabia races to restore oil output after drone attacks

STATE ENERGY PRODUCER SAUDI ARAMCO LOST ABOUT 5.7 MILLION BARRELS PER DAY OF OUTPUT AFTER TEN DRONES ON SATURDAY STRUCK TWO OIL FACILITIES

DUBAI: Saudi Arabia is racing to restore oil production after a brazen drone strike on a key Aramco facility slashed its output by half, or about 5% of world supply, an assault that the U.S. has blamed on Iran.

State energy producer Saudi Aramco lost about 5.7 million barrels per day of output after 10 unmanned aerial vehicles on Saturday struck the world’s biggest crude-processing facility in Abqaiq and the Kingdom’s second-biggest oil field in Khurais, the company said.

Aramco would need weeks to restore full production capacity to a normal level, according to people familiar with the matter.

The producer however can restore significant volume of oil production within days, they said.

Aramco c oul d c onsi der declaring force majeure on some international shipments if the resumption of full capacity at Abqaiq takes weeks, they said.

The attack will likely rattle oil markets and cast a shadow on Aramco’s preparations for what could be the world’s biggest stake sale. It’s also set to escalate a showdown pitting Saudi Arabia and the US against Iran, which backs proxy groups from Yemen to Iran and Lebanon.

The disruption is “quite significant,” Mele Kyari, chief executive officer of state producer Nigerian National Petroleum Corp., told Bloomberg Television on Sunday. “If it’s protracted it could be a big challenge for the oil markets.”