Saudi Arabia is close to returning to its full oil production capacity of 12 million barrels per day after restoring capacity to 11.3 million bbl/d ahead of schedule following drone attacks on two of Saudi Arabian Oil Co.'s facilities, Reuters reported Sept. 25, citing unnamed sources.
Output at Abqaiq, said to be the biggest oil processing center in the world, has reached about 4.9 million bbl/d, after dropping to about 2 million bbl/d following the Sept. 14 attacks, Reuters reported. The Khurais field is also now producing 1.3 million bbl/d, according to Reuters.
Saudi Arabia previously said it expects to return capacity to 11 million bbl/d by the end of September and restore full capacity to 12 million bbl/d after two months.
The attack wiped out about 5.7 million bbl/d of Saudi Arabia's crude oil production, which is around 5% of the world's total output. Saudi Arabian Oil Co., or Saudi Aramco, CEO Amin Nasser said the company was still assessing the cost of repair work, Reuters reported.
Saudi Aramco also sent out a request for proposals to banks this week for a project finance loan of more than $1 billion, Reuters said in a separate Sept. 25 report, citing sources familiar with the matter.
The company did not identify the nature of the projects for which the funds will be used, the sources told Reuters.
