Saudi crude exports normal following missile attacks

Dubai — Crude exports from Saudi Arabia's oil terminals at Ras Tanura were proceeding normally on March 8, according to commodity data company Kpler, a day after a drone attack targeted the port but did no damage.

Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels said March 7 they had had launched 14 drones and eight ballistic missiles targeted at Saudi Aramco facilities in Ras Tanura and military targets in Asir, Damman and Jazan. They followed a series of attacks on Saudi Arabia's west coast last week.

The Saudi Ministry of Energy said one of the petroleum tank farms at the Ras Tanura Port in the Eastern Region, one of the largest oil shipping ports in the world, was attacked in the morning of March 7 by a drone coming from the sea. The attack did not result in any injury or loss of life or property, according to a statement on the Saudi Press Agency.

In a statement to S&P Global Platts, Kpler said its data showed no disruption in loadings at Ras Tanura, with all operations running normally.

During the evening of March 7 there was also an attempt to attack Saudi Aramco's facilities, resulting in shrapnel from a ballistic missile falling near Saudi Aramco's residential area in the city of Dhahran, where thousands of the company's employees and their families from different nationalities live. It did not result in any injury or loss of life or property.

Aramco's international contractors also seemed to be unaffected by the attacks.

"So far, all seems to be blase, so little damage has been done. It is strictly business as usual, as much as it can be with COVID-19, which represents a much more immediate concern," a US industry source said.

The attacks came with oil prices climbing after the OPEC+ decision last week to rollover supply caps amid recovering demand.

News of the attacks saw May ICE Brent crude futures hit $71.38/b in early trading, before retracing to $69/b at 1400 GMT.

S&P Global Platts Analytics sees strong support for Dated Brent around the $65-$70/b range, with risk to the upside in the third quarter before easing by the end of 2021.

Saudi Aramco has been a frequent target for Houthi attacks, which have escalated in recent months under a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which are on opposing sides of Yemen's civil war.

The most notable occurred in September 2019 when Aramco's Abqaiq crude processing plant and Khurais oil field were hit, temporarily knocking out 5.7 million b/d of production -- almost 6% of global crude demand -- throwing the oil market into disarray. However, it took just 10 days for Aramco to carry out sufficient repairs for the company's total output to recover to 10 million b/d.

More recently, Saudi Arabia was subject to several missile attacks on its Red Sea coast on March 4, with Houthis saying they had managed to hit Aramco oil facilities in Jeddah.