Saudi Arabia will take the necessary measures to keep its oil resources and facilities safe and ensure the security of global oil supply, the Kingdom’s Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said on Wednesday, after the latest attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure.
On Sunday, Yemen’s Houthi rebels said they had fired 14 drones and eight ballistic missiles at oil facilities at the Saudi port of Ras Tanura and military targets in three other Saudi cities.
Oil prices spiked early on Monday as markets opened. For a brief period on Monday, Brent Crude prices jumped above the $70 per barrel mark for the first time since January 2020, but reversed gains after it became clear that there would be no disruption to supply from the world’s largest oil exporter.
Since 2015, Saudi Arabia and Iran have been essentially fighting a proxy war in Yemen, where the Saudis lead a military Arab coalition to “restore legitimacy” in the country, while the Houthi movement, which holds the capital Sanaa, is backed by Iran.
Speaking at a news conference with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Saudi foreign minister said on Wednesday:
“The failed attempts to target the port of Ras Tanura do not only target the security of the economy and Saudi Arabia. They target the global economy and its oil supplies and the global energy security.”
“The kingdom will take necessary and deterrent measures to protect its national resources to preserve global energy security and stop the terrorist attacks to ensure stability of energy supplies and security of petroleum exports,” Prince Faisal bin Farhan said.
According to the Saudi foreign minister, Iran is supplying the Houthi movement with drones and ballistic missiles.
Saudi Ambassador to the U.S., Princess Reema Bandar Al Saud, described in a statement Sunday’s attacks as “egregious terrorist attacks carried out by Iranian-backed militias against Saudi Arabia, calling them a threat to innocent civilians and an assault on global energy security.”
This article is reproduced at oilprice.com
