Saudi Aramco's East-West pipeline and its Manifa and Khurais oil fields have suffered significant damage from recent Iranian attacks, Saudi oil ministry said on Thursday, according to state news agency Spa.
An attack on a pumping station on the East-West pipeline cut capacity by 700,000 b/d, the ministry said. The pipeline became Saudi Arabia's primary export outlet after Iran shut down navigation through the strait of Hormuz, and it reached a full 7mn b/d capacity in late March.
Further attacks cut production capacity at Manifa and Khurais by 300,000 b/d each, the ministry said. It did not detail when either of the disclosed attacks took place and whether any of them occurred after the announcement of a ceasefire between the US and Iran on 7 April. Tehran has been targeting energy facilities in Saudi Arabia and other Mideast Gulf states since coming under attack from the US and Israel on 28 February.
Iranian attacks also have targeted Aramco's Satorp, Ras Tanura, Samref and Riyadh refineries, "directly affecting exports of refined products to global markets," according to the ministry. An attack on the Juaymah facility has curbed exports of LPG and NGL. An Aramco security staff member was killed and seven members of facilities' staff were injured during those attacks, the ministry said.
"The continuation of these attacks leads to reduced supply and slows recovery, thereby affecting the security of supply for consuming countries and contributing to increased volatility in oil markets," it said. "This has already negatively impacted the global economy, particularly with the depletion of a significant portion of operational and emergency inventories, which has affected the availability of supplies and limited the ability to respond to this."
Iran and Mideast Gulf countries reported attacks on their energy facilities in the initial hours after the announcement of the 7 April ceasefire. The US has halted hostilities against Iran. Vessel traffic through the strait of Hormuz remains extremely constrained, despite Tehran's pledge to reopen it once the ceasefire took effect.
"Let's be clear: The strait of Hormuz is not open," Abu-Dhabi's state-owned Adnoc chief executive Sultan al-Jaber said on Thursday. "Access is being restricted, conditioned and controlled."
