Aramco Cuts Oil Output by Half after Mysterious Drones Bombs 2 Major Plants!

On September 14, 2019, smoke had covered over two of Saudi Arabia’sstated-owned oil plants, Aramco, after a report of drone attacks, believed to be Iran-backed Houthi rebels responsible for the incident.

Saudi Arabia is the second largest oil producer in the world, making up about 10% at 9.85 million barrel per day of the global supply while the U.S. had just recently moved up to world’s no.1 at 15%.

Khurais, one of the Suadi’s largest plant and one of the plants that was attacked, produces 1.5 million barrel per day while another plant attacked by the drones was in Abqaiq which is the largest plant in the country with the production of 7 million barrel per day.

The Oil Ministry and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman stated that Aramco had to shut down the production of 5.7 million barrel per day of crude oil after the attack which is more than half of the country’s oil production.

The Crown Prince said that it would take about 48 hours to estimate the damage while the timetable for the return of operation is still unknown.

Nevertheless, Aramco can still supply oil to customers for several weeks by drawing on global storage network. The country still has a large tank of storage in the kingdom itself while having another three strategic locations around the world.

Moreover, the U.S. President Donald Trump said that he had contact the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia and offered to keep the oil output at the same level. The U.S. still has Strategic Petroleum Reserve, prepared to steady the oil market itself at a total capacity of 630 million barrel.

Despite the fact the Saudi can still maintain the oil output for several weeks, the damnage has yet to be calculated and the worry of the next wave of drones remains. Analysts said that oil price could go up 5-10 dollar per barrel on the next trading day.