rooster59 Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 Houthi drones hit two Aramco plants, sources say oil supplies disrupted By Stephen Kalin and Rania El Gamal Smoke is seen following a fire at an Aramco factory in Abqaiq, Saudi Arabia, September 14, 2019 in this picture obtained from social media. VIDEOS OBTAINED BY REUTERS/via REUTERS RIYADH (Reuters) - Yemen's Iran-aligned Houthi group on Saturday attacked two Saudi Aramco plants at the heart of the kingdom's oil industry, including the world's biggest petroleum processing facility, sparking fires in the latest violent flare-up in the Gulf. Saudi Arabia said it had brought the blazes under control but three sources close to the matter said oil production and exports had been disrupted. One source said 5 million barrels per day of crude production had been impacted -- close to half the kingdom's output -- but did not elaborate. State television said exports were continuing but Aramco has yet to comment since the pre-dawn attack and authorities have not said whether oil production or exports were affected. The drone strikes on the world's biggest oil exporter come as Saudi Aramco has accelerated plans for an initial public offering of the state oil giant to as early as this year, and follow earlier cross-border attacks on Saudi oil installations and on oil tankers in Gulf waters. Saturday's attacks appeared to be the most brazen yet. Saudi Arabia, leading a Sunni Muslim military coalition that intervened in Yemen in 2015 against the Houthis, has blamed regional rival Shi'ite Iran for previous attacks, which Tehran denies. Riyadh accuses Iran of arming the Houthis, a charge denied by the group and Tehran. Authorities have not reported on casualties. A Reuters witness nearby said at least 15 ambulances were seen in the area and there was a heavy security presence around Abqaiq. Abqaiq is 60 km (37 miles) southwest of Aramco's Dhahran headquarters. The oil processing plant handles crude from the world's largest conventional oilfield, the supergiant Ghawar, and for export to terminals Ras Tanura - the world's biggest offshore oil loading facility - and Juaymah. It also pumps westwards across the kingdom to Red Sea export terminals. Khurais, 190 km (118 miles) further southwest, contains the country's second largest oilfield. Many Western employees of Aramco live in Abqaiq. The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh said it was unaware of any injuries to Americans from the attacks. "These attacks against critical infrastructure endanger civilians, are unacceptable, and sooner or later will result in innocent lives being lost,” the embassy quoted Ambassador John Abizaid as saying in a Twitter post. FIRE AND SMOKE The Saudi-led coalition launched air strikes on Yemen's northern Saada province, a Houthi stronghold, on Saturday, a Reuters witness said. Houthi-run al Masirah TV said the warplanes targeted a military camp north of Saada city. Hours after the Houthi strike in Abqaiq, the Reuters witness said fire and smoke were still visible but had started dying down. Earlier video footage verified by Reuters showed bright flames and thick plumes of smoke rising towards the dark pre-dawn sky. An emergency vehicle is seen rushing towards the site. The Saudi interior ministry said Aramco industrial security teams fighting the fires since 0400 (0100 GMT) had managed to control them and stop their spread. It did not identify the source of the drones but said an investigation was underway. The Houthis' military spokesman, without providing evidence, said the attacks hit refineries at both sites, which are over 1,000 km (621 miles) from the Yemeni capital Sanaa, and pledged a widening of assaults on Saudi Arabia. The chief of Iran's elite Quds Force, Qassem Soleimani praised the Houthis for their resistance in a Twitter post that included the hashtag Aramco. Tensions in the region have escalated in recent months after the United States quit an international nuclear deal and extended economic sanctions on Iran. The Houthis hit Shaybah oilfield last month and two oil pumping stations in May. Both attacks caused fires but did not disrupt production. The coalition has responded with air strikes on Houthi targets in Sanaa and other areas held by the group, which controls most large urban centres in Yemen. Riyadh's main coalition partner the United Arab Emirates said in a statement that it supported any measures by the kingdom to safeguard its security following Saturday's "terrorist and subversive" assault. The violence is complicating U.N.-led efforts to pave the way for peace talks to end the war, which has killed tens of thousands of people and pushed millions to the brink of famine. The Western-backed coalition intervened in Yemen to try to restore the internationally recognised government ousted from power in Sanaa by the Houthis in late 2014. The Yemen conflict is widely seen as a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The Houthis say they are fighting a corrupt system. (Reporting by Stephen Kalin and Rania El Gamal; Additional reporting by Dmitry Zhdannikov in London, Ahmed Tolba in Cairo, Tuqa Khalid and Parisa Hafezi in Dubai and Reuters team in Yemen; Editing by Richard Borsuk, Mark Potter and William Maclean) -- © Copyright Reuters 2019-09-14 Follow Thaivisa on LINE for breaking Thailand news and visa info Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolboy Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 I guess drones dropping bombs is not exactly a case of the chickens coming home to roost but close enough. The boy wonder, Muhammed bin Salman, or, as I like to call him, Jared of Arabia, is in serious trouble. The UAE is abandoning the fight in Yemen and making conciliatory noises to Iran. And this attack can't help but have serious repercussions for his renewed push for an IPO of Aramco, Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegman Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 Saudi has been the biggest international terrorist funder for decades. Rich religious nuts are the worst kind. Nice to see them get a bloody nose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldhippy Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 48 minutes ago, pegman said: Saudi has been the biggest international terrorist funder for decades. Rich religious nuts are the worst kind. Nice to see them get a bloody nose. And who is the biggest international arms supplier to this terrorist funder? https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2019/05/saudi-arabia-world-largest-arms-importer-2014-2018-190512140945972.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegman Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 11 minutes ago, oldhippy said: And who is the biggest international arms supplier to this terrorist funder? https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/interactive/2019/05/saudi-arabia-world-largest-arms-importer-2014-2018-190512140945972.html 'Merica Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timendres Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 25 minutes ago, pegman said: 'Merica Hey! We resemble that statement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 I smell a rat as well oh well get ready to pay more for gas! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bendejo Posted September 14, 2019 Share Posted September 14, 2019 The irony will hit full-force if it is revealed that these weapons passed through Saudi hands. Man, if this news hit during a business day the oil (and oil-related) markets would be going craaaay-zeee! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cryingdick Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 Good opportunity for American oil companies to step up production. It is hurricane season so things could get dodgy. The USA lately had was expecting to have a draw down of around 2.8 million barrels. The numbers came out and it was 6.9 million barrels, so there might be a short term increase in oil prices. Nice chance for the American companies to pounce and fill the vacuum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolboy Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 21 minutes ago, Cryingdick said: Good opportunity for American oil companies to step up production. It is hurricane season so things could get dodgy. The USA lately had was expecting to have a draw down of around 2.8 million barrels. The numbers came out and it was 6.9 million barrels, so there might be a short term increase in oil prices. Nice chance for the American companies to pounce and fill the vacuum. If there is an opportunity - and the Saudis are claiming that production will be back to normal by Monday - it's not only the US that has spare capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WeekendRaider Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 oh, our 9/11 friends who also made visiting a consulate a new kind of experience. well, today some other news for them. 100% oil refinery related. Roger Hallam, after being arrested by the bobbies for TALKING in a café about flying some drones near Heathrow, and then, to be released from jail signed some kind of pledge, it sounds like, to not go anywhere near Heathrow this weekend... upon being released from jail.... went directly to Heathrow to attempt to FLY a drone next to the airport instead of just talking about it. Heathrow airport. a topic so huge if a baby cries too much on an airplane, or the airlines want to charge extra for extra extra luggage or ANYTHING happens... let alone trying to fly a drone even when the airwave signals are totally jammed so it is impossible to do that anyways.... all of which notwithstanding means this is potentially huge. for oil. bigger than making salt and freeing a subcontinent... aviation is why we didn't do anything to scale for 4 decades. except make it worse. and this could have a big impact on the oil industry, which is also what this other political stuff is about. duh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zydeco Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 I'm sure Europe will not miss Saudi oil exports one little bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExpatOilWorker Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 13 minutes ago, zydeco said: I'm sure Europe will not miss Saudi oil exports one little bit. China might miss it. https://www.cnbc.com/2019/08/15/saudi-arabia-dramatically-changing-its-oil-exports-to-china-and-the-us.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabas Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 7 hours ago, englishoak said: Yes yes sure thing......... ????Because Yemens Houthi rebels have fantastic military Drone expertise and capabilities, funding and technological superiority to get past Saudi air space, defences and and all the cutting edge and record breaking hardware and tech they have bought from the US, UK etc... Riiiight No but Iran does, including weaponized satellite controlled drones, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, shore to ship missiles, all of which the Houthi tribe keeps claiming they shoot at others. Right. Here is a Houthi geosynchronous satellite communications controlled precision weapons specialist guiding a remote drone hundreds of kilometres away by pointing his communications equipment at a group of satellites. Note the intense concentration as a control software expert (right) watches real time video feedback on sophisticated monitoring systems in the sand. The little guy with mumps in the middle is a heavy drone propulsive systems efficiency expert. He makes sure the drones are designed to reach distant targets. https://freebeacon.com/issues/yemeni-rebels-in-iran-for-new-weapons-shipments-2/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolboy Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 1 hour ago, rabas said: No but Iran does, including weaponized satellite controlled drones, ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, shore to ship missiles, all of which the Houthi tribe keeps claiming they shoot at others. Right. Here is a Houthi geosynchronous satellite communications controlled precision weapons specialist guiding a remote drone hundreds of kilometres away by pointing his communications equipment at a group of satellites. Note the intense concentration as a control software expert (right) watches real time video feedback on sophisticated monitoring systems in the sand. The little guy with mumps in the middle is a heavy drone propulsive systems efficiency expert. He makes sure the drones are designed to reach distant targets. https://freebeacon.com/issues/yemeni-rebels-in-iran-for-new-weapons-shipments-2/ One of the hallmarks of an unintelligence report is contempt for the opposition. In the wake of the Iraq War, you'd think people might have learned not to underestimate an apparetnly underequipped opposition. And the Saudi failure to break the Houthis despite the huge amount of sophisticated weaponry it has deployed would provide a further object lesson. And someone who believes that a photo is a valid way to size up the skills of the opposition is the kind of person who has learned nothing from these situations. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rabas Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 27 minutes ago, bristolboy said: One of the hallmarks of an unintelligence report is contempt for the opposition. In the wake of the Iraq War, you'd think people might have learned not to underestimate an apparetnly underequipped opposition. And the Saudi failure to break the Houthis despite the huge amount of sophisticated weaponry it has deployed would provide a further object lesson. And someone who believes that a photo is a valid way to size up the skills of the opposition is the kind of person who has learned nothing from these situations. Your examples of what one can and cannot control may be true but have little to do with technology. You really believe the Houthi can independently develop, produce, and deploy large numbers (10 in this case) of highly sophisticated drone weapons? Fly them simultaneously 1000 km under geosynchronous satellite control with large explosive warheads and land them with meter precision to blow up heavy steel pipes and equipment? The WSJ has doubts. More likely cruise missiles from nearby Iran or Iraq.https://www.wsj.com/articles/suspicions-rise-that-saudi-oil-attack-came-from-outside-yemen-11568498542 Background reading on where the technology is likely coming from. https://missiledefenseadvocacy.org/missile-threat-and-proliferation/todays-missile-threat/non-state-actors/houthis/ https://www.janes.com/article/89746/yemeni-rebels-unveil-cruise-missile-long-range-uavs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rimmer Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 Some troll posts and replies removed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bristolboy Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 8 minutes ago, rabas said: Your examples of what one can and cannot control may be true but have little to do with technology. You really believe the Houthi can independently develop, produce, and deploy large numbers (10 in this case) of highly sophisticated drone weapons? Fly them simultaneously 1000 km under geosynchronous satellite control with large explosive warheads and land them with meter precision to blow up heavy steel pipes and equipment? The WSJ has doubts. More likely cruise missiles from nearby Iran or Iraq.https://www.wsj.com/articles/suspicions-rise-that-saudi-oil-attack-came-from-outside-yemen-11568498542 Background reading on where the technology is likely coming from. https://missiledefenseadvocacy.org/missile-threat-and-proliferation/todays-missile-threat/non-state-actors/houthis/ https://www.janes.com/article/89746/yemeni-rebels-unveil-cruise-missile-long-range-uavs I have no doubt that the Houthis are getting their weapons from elsewhere. But what you wrote cast doubt on their ability to use those weapons. You cited a photo of some of their soldiers as evidence. Was it the lack of uniforms that made that photo pertinent? Something about their features? Seems more like the usual bigoted contempt that has proven to be so remarkably foolish elsewhere. As for articles casting doubt on the weapons being launched from elsewhere. We've seen such deflections before. Somehow I"m not impressed that Saudi and American officials are trying to put as much blame on Iran as possible. And as for "officials around the globe" doing the same, so what? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srikcir Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 12 hours ago, bristolboy said: I guess drones dropping bombs is not exactly a case of the chickens coming home to roost but close enough. There have been more than 200 drone attacks launched by Houthi rebels from Yemen into Saudi Arabia with the latest 10 drones targeting Saudi Aramco oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais. http://lite.cnn.io/en/article/h_84d0ee70934e6a91e703de97190650e4 One or two drones were eventually bound to cause serious damage. As far back as 2006 Al Qaeda struck the same Abqaiq facility. It doesn't seem the Saudi's has ever been very concern about the vulnerability of the facilities. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rimmer Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 More off topic troll removed Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usviphotography Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 17 hours ago, pegman said: Saudi has been the biggest international terrorist funder for decades. Rich religious nuts are the worst kind. Nice to see them get a bloody nose. If Poppy Bush hadn't foolishly gotten US involved in Gulf War the world would have been rid of the House of Saud long ago and oil fields and everything else would have been under the relatively stable and secular Saddam and crew. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morch Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 1 hour ago, usviphotography said: If Poppy Bush hadn't foolishly gotten US involved in Gulf War the world would have been rid of the House of Saud long ago and oil fields and everything else would have been under the relatively stable and secular Saddam and crew. And I'm sure you could back that up with one of your handy conspiracy theories. Doubt your non-existent crystal ball does both past, future, and alternative future predictions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonwilly Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 Must have been a very large Drone to fly from Yemen to Eastern Saudi. Too big to be electrical powered, which is what I think of as drones. john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tug Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 Imo this resembles cruise missiles more than drones guess it depends on your definition of a drone and as a side thought old Bolton must be absolutely beside himsielf lol an operation this size must have left a footprint hope we will be allowed to know the facts soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThePioneer Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 56 minutes ago, jonwilly said: Must have been a very large Drone to fly from Yemen to Eastern Saudi. Too big to be electrical powered, which is what I think of as drones. john Most likely they didn't get their drones from Aliexpress or Ebay https://www.airforce-technology.com/features/featurethe-top-10-longest-range-unmanned-aerial-vehicles-uavs/ https://owlcation.com/misc/Fastest-Military-Drones-in-the-World Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliss Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 18 hours ago, Tug said: I smell a rat as well oh well get ready to pay more for gas! All part of the plan... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliss Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 2 hours ago, usviphotography said: If Poppy Bush hadn't foolishly gotten US involved in Gulf War the world would have been rid of the House of Saud long ago and oil fields and everything else would have been under the relatively stable and secular Saddam and crew. Lets not forget , puppy Blair.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
elliss Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 1 hour ago, Morch said: And I'm sure you could back that up with one of your handy conspiracy theories. Doubt your non-existent crystal ball does both past, future, and alternative future predictions. 1 hour ago, jonwilly said: Must have been a very large Drone to fly from Yemen to Eastern Saudi. Too big to be electrical powered, which is what I think of as drones. john FYI , take off requires stable generated power supply , after that solar back up, {classified info.] Thx Japanese technology ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
candide Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 Apparently it's been known for months that they have long range drones: "According to the report, Saudi officials estimate they’ve shot down more than 140 drones and that “their technology has quickly evolved from small, propeller-powered surveillance drones to a larger plane-shaped model, dubbed UAV-X by United Nations investigators, that can travel more than 900 miles at a speed of 150 miles-per-hour.” https://www.theverge.com/2019/5/3/18527205/drones-explosives-yemen-war-houthi-rebels-edge-violence-borders Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wayned Posted September 15, 2019 Share Posted September 15, 2019 Pompeo is spinning it that it was cruise missles fired from Iranian controlled territory in southern Iraq. He says that they have proof and is working on getting it declassified so that they can go public with the information. Rumours have it the Pompeo has borrowed two of Trump's Sharpe Pens! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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