When attack drones struck
Saudi Aramco’s biggest oil pipeline last month,
satellite images showed one of its pumping stations burnt to
ashes. By the next day, scores of bulldozers were already
building a new pipeline.
Within days pumping resumed.
The speed of the recovery illustrates how the world’s
biggest oil producer has transformed its ability to operate
under attack after years of assaults on energy infrastructure
across the region.
“Today, our teams can handle multiple incidents
simultaneously, and we continue to build this capability,” Saudi
state oil firm Aramco’s chief executive Amin Nasser told
Reuters in an interview last week.
Nasser said Aramco has built specialised rapid-response
teams, expanded emergency stockpiles for repairs and deployed
drones to assess damage even while incidents are still
unfolding.
Lessons on how to operate under fire came after drones and
missiles hit Aramco’s major oil processing facility in Abqaiq in
2019, temporarily knocking out half of Aramco’s production.
“After Abqaiq in 2019, we came up with the idea of rapid
response teams, or what we call zero-hour responders,” Nasser
said.
The company, long-viewed as one of the most technically
advanced oil producers, then began to prepare for the
possibility of multiple attacks on its facilities at the same
time, Nasser said.
Those capabilities have been repeatedly tested since the US
and Israel attacked Iran in February this year and Iran and its
proxies retaliated with strikes that hit Middle Eastern
infrastructure.
The firm’s crisis-management capabilities were tested again
on Tuesday when a Houthi attack struck the company’s
headquarters complex, causing extensive damage.
DRONES AND WAREHOUSES SPEED RECOVERY
Saudi daily oil output dropped below 7 million barrels for
most of the first six months of the war, down from over 10
million barrels before the war, according to data from the
International Energy Agency.
Like other Gulf producers, Saudi Arabia’s oil exports have
been constrained by attacks on tankers and a shortage of ships
restricting crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Yet Aramco has managed to repair damaged facilities and
restore operations quickly thanks to specialised response teams,
years of contingency planning, drone technology and abundant
spare parts.
Technology has allowed Aramco to compress the time between
an attack and the start of repairs, Nasser said.
The company’s response to incidents was now more than six
times faster than the industry average, he added, meaning it
often takes just days to restart a facility even after
significant damage.
Normally, oil firms first contain an incident and then
assess the damage, but Aramco begins assessment with drones
while an incident is still unfolding, Nasser said.
“Inspection drones provide an exceptional level of
visibility and detail,” Nasser said. “By the time the situation
is under control, we are ready to get to work.”
Response teams can quickly send repair materials to a site
before work begins, Nasser said.
Some 90% of materials needed for repairs are produced
locally or held in a local warehouse as Aramco has spent years
building up supply chains and inventories.
The ability to maintain production despite repeated attacks
has become an important selling point with Aramco’s customers,
Nasser said.
“They see that Aramco is able to deliver under different
scenarios.”
While Saudi oil production recovered to about 8 million
barrels a day in September, export routes remain vulnerable to
disruptions beyond Aramco’s control.
The company is studying possible alternative routes to the
Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb and Suez, Nasser said, without
elaborating.
“Details will be disclosed if and when a final decision is
made,” he said.