HIGHLIGHTS
- Yemen’s armed forces of Houthis carried out attacks on the Saudi Aramco distribution station in Jeddah while it was preparing to host the Formula One Grand Prix.
- This force sabotage and reckless terrorist attack against civilian infrastructure of Saudi Arabia
- The attack pushed oil prices to nearly 120 USD/barrel, making the world’s thirst for oil even worse.
FULL ARTICLE
A series of new attacks by Yemeni rebels
On March 25, Yemen’s armed forces of Houthis carried out attacks on a distribution station in Jeddah of Saudi Aramco, Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company, causing a fire in two storage tanks. Luckily no casualties occurred. The attack comes as Jeddah prepares to host the Saudi Arabia Formula One Grand Prix on Sunday.
Since the Saudi military campaign launched in Yemen, the country’s Houthis have carried out thousands of missile and drone attacks across the border into Saudi Arabia. The rebels carried out 16 attacks in the south and in Jeddah (west) against various infrastructure, including a power plant, a water plant and oil and gas facilities, the coalition said in a statement.
In 2019, the Houthis carried out a lot of attacks against Saudi Aramco. The facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais were hit by bullets, disrupting half of Saudi Arabia’s daily oil production.
Recently, on March 20, this group carried out sabotage and reckless terrorist attack on the civilian infrastructure of the kingdom causing a temporary decrease in output at an oil refinery and Fire at a petroleum product distribution station.
The attack pushed oil prices to nearly 120 USD/barrel
On March 26, the world oil price increased slightly and approached the 120 USD/barrel mark after the Houthi forces in Yemen attacked the Saudi Aramco storage facility. Ending the last trading session of the week, WTI oil price increased by 1.39% to 113.9 USD/barrel. Thus, the price of WTI oil increased by more than 10% from last week, 21.8% from last month and 86.8% from last year. Similarly, despite a slight increase of 0.48% to 119.6 USD/barrel, the price of Brent oiled also increased by 10.8% from last week, 22.08% from last month and more than 85% from last year, according to data from Investing.
Oil prices have surged since Russia’s Special Military Operation on Ukrainian soil on February 24 and retaliatory Western sanctions disrupted global supplies. It is the uncertainty in energy supplies from Russia, the US and the West that wants other oil exporting countries to increase production. In particular, Saudi Arabia is the first name mentioned thanks to its leading role in this industry.
However, when Riyadh has not yet agreed to increase production as much as the West wants (due to its loyalty to its commitments to the OPEC+ alliance), attacks on Saudi Aramco’s oil storage could trigger a storm. The world’s oil thirst is aggravated further.
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