Saudi Arabia said on Saturday night that drone strikes on its key oil facilities, among the world's largest and most important energy production centers, have disrupted about half of the kingdom's oil capacity, or 5% of the daily global oil supply. Saudi Arabian Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said in a statement quoted by CNN that 5.7 million barrels a day of crude oil and gas production have been affected. The latest OPEC figures from August 2019 put the total Saudi production at 9.8 million barrels per day. The energy minister said the "company is currently working to recover the lost quantities" of oil and will update the public within the next two days. "These attacks are not only aimed at the vital installations of the kingdom, but also on the global oil supply and its security, and thus pose a threat to the global economy," he added. The Saudi interior ministry had confirmed that the drone attacks caused fires at the two facilities. In a statement posted on Twitter, the ministry said the fires were under control and that authorities were investigating. Yemen's Houthi rebels took responsibility for the attacks, saying 10 drones targeted state-owned Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais, according to the Houthi Al-Masirah news agency. Earlier on Saturday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo blamed Iran for the attack on Saudi oil facilities. "Tehran is behind nearly 100 attacks on Saudi Arabia while Rouhani and Zarif pretend to engage in diplomacy," Pompeo tweeted. "Amid all the calls for de-escalation, Iran has now launched an unprecedented attack on the world’s energy supply. There is no evidence the attacks came from Yemen." "We call on all nations to publicly and unequivocally condemn Iran’s attacks. The United States will work with our partners and allies to ensure that energy markets remain well supplied and Iran is held accountable for its aggression," he added. It has long been believed that Iran is planning to use the Houthis to take over Yemen and seize the key strategic port of Aden, which controls the entrance to the Red Sea and ultimately to the Israeli resort city of Eilat. Iran has long denied that it is backing the Houthis and has also denied Saudi Arabian accusations that Tehran provided the Houthi rebels in Yemen with ballistic capabilities.
