Saudi attack had 'no impact' on oil output: Saudi oil official

London (Platts)--24Feb2006

Saudi oil production and exports have not been affected by an attempted
attack earlier Friday on a key oil center in the oil-rich kingdom's Eastern
Province, a Saudi oil official told Platts.

     "It was a minor fire caused by a terrorist attack, with no impact
whatsoever on oil production and exports," the Saudi oil official said.
"Everything is normal," he added.

     US light crude futures jumped by more than $2/bbl to $62.60/bbl as a
Saudi television station reported that an explosion and gunfire had been heard
at the Abqaiq refinery and that witnesses had reported gunfire near a crude
gathering center in the area.

     Abqaiq is an oil town on the main road between Riyadh and Dhahran, where
state-owned Saudi Aramco is based.

     AFP, reporting from Riyadh, subsequently quoted oil sources and residents
saying Saudi security forces had foiled an attempt to attack the center using
car bombs.

     "Residents of Abqaiq told AFP that they heard two blasts near the 
plant and saw two burned-out cars outside, along with dozens of 
security forces and civil defense vehicles," the French news agency said.

     Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter, producing around
9.5-mil b/d of crude. The US Energy Information Administration says the Abqaiq
processing facility handles around two-thirds of Saudi Arabia's oil
production.

     "It's very crucial," said Christopher Bellew, an oil broker at Bache
Financial. "Anything that threatens this much oil is extremely serious."

     The kingdom has suffered a wave of attacks in the past couple of years by
suspected Al-Qaeda militants, mostly aimed at the country's heavily-protected
oil installations or areas housing foreign oil workers.

     An Aramco spokesman said he had no information beyond what was already
available on Friday's attack but said further details would be released later.

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http://oilgramnews.platts.com.

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