The CEO Of the Saudi Arabian state-run oil company Aramco issued a message to employees on Saturday that the company is "stronger than ever” and full production will be resumed before the end of the month, according to Reuters.
The statement from Chief Executive Amin Nasser comes just before Saudi national day on 23 September, in which he said: “The fires that were intended to destroy Saudi Aramco had an unintended consequence: they galvanized 70,000 of us around a mission to rebound quickly and confidently, and Saudi Aramco has come out of this incident stronger than ever."
“Every second counts in moments like these, and had we not acted quickly to contain the fires and undertake rapid restoration efforts, the impact on the oil market and the global economy would have been far more devastating.”
“Not a single shipment to our international customers has been missed or cancelled as a result of the attacks, and we will continue to fulfil our mission of providing the energy the world needs” he said in the message.
Reporters were invited to observe the wreckage and repair efforts of the oil plants hit by the attack, which Yemeni Houthi rebels have admitted responsibility for having launched.
Thousands of contractors and employees from all over the country have been diverted from other projects to rebuild and get production up and running again. Material from United States and Europe is also being shipped in to help with reconstruction.
The attacks on the vital oil fields in Abqaiq and Khurais plants led to significant damage and the halving of the total crude output of the world’s top oil exporter, shutting down 5.7 million barrels of daily oil production.
Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said that the oil-rich kingdom had utilised reserves to maintain supply for domestic and foreign customers.
Despite Houthi rebels taking responsibility for the attack as part of the ongoing Yemeni civil war, the US government has blamed Iran for being behind the attacks, an accusation which the Iranian government has firmly denied.
The Saudis and the Houthis both say that the attack was launched using 18 drones and was on a large enough scale to hit two of Saudi Arabia's largest oil fields. However, neither attack saw casualties despite the large amount of employees at both sites.
