Output restored in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has fully restored its oil output after attacks on its facilities, and is now focused on the listing of state oil company Saudi Aramco, energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman says.

Saudi Arabia has fully restored its oil output after attacks on its facilities, and is now focused on the listing of state oil giant Saudi Aramco, energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Thursday.

The country’s crude oil production capacity was now 11.3million barrels per day, he said, adding that the attacks, which halved the crude output of the world’s top exporter, had been an attempt to ruin Saudi Arabia’s reputation as “a reliable, secure and dependable oil supplier”.

“We all rose to the challenge,” he told an energy conference in Moscow.

The attacks on September 14 targeted the Abqaiq and the Khurais oil plants, causing a spike in oil prices, fires and damage and shutting down 5.7million barrels per day of production, or more than 5% of global oil supply.

Saudi Arabia has managed to maintain supplies to customers at levels from before the attacks by drawing from its huge oil inventories and offering other crude grades from other fields, Saudi officials have said.

“We still have the kit and the tools to overcome any future challenges,” Abdulaziz said.

One of challenges for the country now was the listing of Aramco, a centrepiece of Saudi Arabia’s plans to reform its economy and diversify away from oil. “We want to make sure that it is the most successful IPO [initial public offering],” he said, adding the country was working on diversifying its energy resources and adding both renewables and nuclear power.

“As far as I am concerned ... we moved on, we flipped the page and [are] rising up to the new challenge,” he said.

Bankers from about 20 international and domestic financial institutions are now working a plan to sell 1%-2% of Aramco by 2020-2021 in Riyadh, before an international listing.

Abdulaziz, a veteran oil official and a son of the king, was named as Saudi Arabia’s energy minister in September.

/Reuters On line: Workers are seen at the damaged site of the Saudi Aramco oil facility, following the September 20 attacks. Oil output has been fully restored, energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman says.