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Fri, Mar

Saudi, Gulf Stocks Fall After Attacks On Saudi Oil Facilities Ablaze

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Saudi stocks fell sharply on Sunday, after attacks on two plants at the heart of the kingdom’s oil industry a day earlier knocked out more than half of Saudi crude output.

Saudi Interior Ministry announced on Saturday that drone attacks caused fires at two oil facilities of Saudi petroleum company Aramco.

The ministry said in a statement on the Saudi Press Agency that attacks were reported on Saturday morning in Abqaiq in Eastern Province and HijratKhurais oilfield.

The 
Aramco’s industrial security teams controlled and extinguished the fire before the spreading of the flames.

An investigation was launched, the ministry added.

Saudi Arabia has been targeted in the past years with drone and missile attacks by Houthi militia.

At 0914 GMT, the Saudi market was down 1.3%. The index has lost all its gains this year and is down about 18% from its 2019 high of 9,403 points seen in early May, Reuters reports.

The index’s earlier gains were fueled by Saudi Arabia’s entry into the MSCI and FTSE Russell’s emerging market indices, but analysts said that effect had faded in recent weeks.

Saudi Basic Industries (SABIC), the kingdom’s biggest petrochemicals firm, was down 2.4% after it said it had curtailed feedback supplies by about 49% following the attacks.

Aramco has agreed to buy a 70% stake in SABIC from the state Public Investment Fund in a $69.1 billion deal that is awaiting regulatory approvals.

Most of those attacks were foiled before reaching their targets, while some succeeded in causing limited fires in oil facilities without affecting oil production.

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