Saudi energy minister says oil supplies have returned to pre-attack levels

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman spoke to the press on Tuesday following an attack on Aramco facilities over the weekend, announcing that full oil production will resume by the end of September.

Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announces the return of Saudi oil supplies to their levels prior to the attack on Saudi oil facilities.

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Analysis – “The lack of specifics on the damage Abqaiq and field is cause for concern. Without indications of what has been hit and damaged, analysts will not be able to assess total issues. Transparency is needed here,” says Cyril Widdershoven, geopolitical and oil & gas analyst, director of Verocy, a Netherlands-based consultancy.

Saudi Arabia’s oil reserves will be restored by the end of the month, after it has tapped them to maintain supply, says Aramco CEO Amin Nasser.

The attacks on Saudi Arabia impacted global markets, even consumers who do not purchase oil from the Kingdom, said Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz.

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman is holding a press conference following Saturday’s attacks on Saudi Aramco’s oil-processing facilities.

The CEO and Chairman and Aramco are both due to attend too.

The attacks interrupted the supply of an estimated 5.7 million barrels of crude oil per day – around five percent of global supply – and two billion cubic feet of gas.

The strikes on Saudi Arabia have been claimed by the Iran-backed Houthi militia in Yemen. However, the scope and precision of the drone attacks show they were launched from a west-northwest direction rather than from Yemen to the south, senior US administration officials said on Sunday.

The Saudi-led Arab Coalition battling the Houthi militia also confirmed on Sunday that its investigations indicated the weapons used in the attack were Iranian.

Oil prices have surged nearly 15 percent after the attack. Saudi Arabian authorities have pledged to use the Kingdom’s oil reserves to compensate for any disruption in supply to its customers.

The Kingdom has been able to restore a third of its oil production that had been lost as a result of Saturday’s attacks on its key oil-processing facilities, according to Refinitiv tracking data seen by Al Arabiya English on Monday.

Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said the kingdom is already supplying oil to its customers at pre-attack levels &that normal production levels will return by the end of September.The kingdom has restored50%of production lost in Saturday’s attacks,Prince Abdulaziz said