Saudi Aramco emergency crews contained fires at its plants in Abqaiq and Khurais, as a result of terrorist attacks with projectiles, according to a media release from the company.
These attacks resulted in production suspension of 5.7 million barrels of crude oil per day.
After visiting the incident locations, Amin H Nasser, Saudi Aramco president & CEO, said: “We are gratified that there were no injuries. I would like to thank all teams that responded timely to the incidents and brought the situation under control. Work is underway to restore production and a progress update will be provided in around 48 hours.”
According to another media release by the Saudi Press Agency, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, the minister of energy, Saudi Arabia, stated that according to preliminary estimates, these explosions led to the interruption of a quantity of crude oil supplies estimated at 5.7 million barrels, or about 50% of the company’s production.
Part of the decrease will be compensated for its customers through stocks, the media release explained. S&P Global Platts noted in a report that the nation’s stockpiles totalled 187.9mn barrels (equivalent of 26.8 days of supply) in June 2019, citing the Joint Organisation Data Initiative.
The minister explained that these explosions have also led to the cessation of the production of associated gas estimated at two billion cubic feet per day, used to produce 700 thousand barrels of natural gas liquids, which will reduce the supply of ethane and natural gas liquids by up to about 50%.
Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC), the kingdom’s biggest petrochemicals firm, said it had curtailed feedstock supplies by about 49% following the attacks. Other petrochemical companies such as Yanbu National Petrochemicals Co and Kayan also announced significant reductions in feedstock supplies.
