RIYADH – Saudi Arabia on Friday revealed extensive damage from the strikeson state giant Aramco’s facilities in Khurais and the world’s largest oilprocessing facility at Abqaiq.
The attacks, which knocked out half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production, havebeen claimed by Yemen’s allegedly Iran-backed Huthi rebels, but Washingtonhas pointed its finger at Tehran, condemning the strikes as an “act of war”.
Abqaiq was struck 18 times while nearby Khurais was hit four times in araid that triggered multiple explosions and towering flames that took hoursto extinguish, Aramco officials said.
Aramco flew dozens of international journalists to the two sites to show itwas speeding up repairs, giving rare access to the nerve centre of theworld’s largest oil producer as it seeks to shore up investor confidenceahead of a planned initial public offering (IPO).
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Meanwhile, Yemen’s Huthi rebels, who have repeatedly targeted key Saudiinfrastructure in recent months in cross-border attacks, unexpectedlyannounced late Friday that they planned to halt all strikes on the country.
The move, they said, was part of a peace initiative to end their country’sdevastating conflict which has killed tens of thousands of people — most ofthem civilians — and driven millions more to the brink of famine.Irandenies US and Saudi accusations that it arms the Huthis. -APP/AFP
