15 september
Saudi Arabia's energy minister has confirmed that Saturday's drone attacks on its oil facilities have knocked out about half of the country's output.
In a statement released by the state-run news agency, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman revealed that the attacks have reduced daily production by about 5.7 million barrels. That's about 5 percent of global supply. The minister condemned the attacks, saying they targeted the world's oil supplies and security, not just Saudi Arabia's.
Saudi officials say they will take measures to offset any disruption to the global oil markets. They say they will quickly repair the facilities and deploy crude oil reserves to make up for the loss. The predawn drone attacks set off explosions and fires at Saudi Aramco's facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais. Saudi officials say the blazes are now under control, but that production has stopped. Abqaiq is the site of the world's largest oil processing plants.
Houthi insurgents supported by Iran said in a statement that they carried out the attacks. But US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has blamed Iran, tweeting "There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen."—NHK
