Saudi Arabia to restore oil production

By Gozde Bayar

ANKARA (AA) – Saudi Arabia is aiming to restore one-third of the disrupted oil production by Monday evening.

The Wall Street Journal newspaper reported that the loss of nearly 6% of global oil output due to drone attack on Saudi Arabia’s two oil facilities have soared crude prices.

The newspaper claimed that the strikes knocked out 5.7 million barrels of daily production.

“We should be able to have 2 million barrels a day back online by Monday,” the newspaper said quoting a Saudi official.

It further said that Saudi officials were also discussing shipping their own extra inventory to meet short-term supply needs.

On Sept. 14, two drone attacks hit at the Abqaiq and Khurais facilities. Abqaiq is home to the state-owned, Saudi Aramco’s largest oil processing plant.

Following the drone attacks, Saudi Arabia temporarily cut its oil production from its two oil facilities run by the Saudi Aramco, which corresponds to nearly two million barrels per day.

The attack could cause oil prices to rise up to $10 per barrel, which could cause as much as a 25 cent per gallon rise in gasoline price, according to the experts.

Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said that the work is underway to restore production.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack. However, the Saudi-led coalition currently fighting against the Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed that they have carried out similar attacks in the past.

The Houthis have medium, long-range ballistic missiles in their inventory and they had previously targeted certain strategic locations of Saudi Arabia with armed drones.