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By Rania El Gamal and Maher Chmaytelli
RIYADH (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia has come out of attacks on its oil facilities "stronger than ever," chief executive Amin Nasser told his staff in a message, adding that oil production would resume in the near future. 39, here the end of the month.
The 14 September attacks on the most important factories in the kingdom, the Abqaiq and Khurais factories, caused violent fires and major damage that cut the crude oil production of the world's leading exporter by half. of oil, closing 5.7 million barrels per day of production.
"The fires supposedly destroying Saudi Aramco had an unexpected consequence: they galvanized 70,000 people around a mission so that it would bounce back quickly and confidently, and Saudi Aramco came out of this incident stronger than ever before." Nasser said in an internal message, on the occasion of the Saudi National Day, which will be celebrated on 23 September.
"Every second counts in times like these, and if we had not acted quickly to contain the fires and undertake fast food restoration efforts, the impact on the oil market and on the market. world economy would have been much more devastating. "
Six days after the assault, which touched the heart of the Saudi energy sector and intensified a decades-long struggle with Iran, its rival giant, national oil giant Aramco urged journalists Friday to watch the damage and repair efforts.
Thousands of employees and subcontractors have been removed from other projects to work tirelessly to restore production. Aramco is shipping equipment from the United States and Europe to rebuild damaged facilities, Aramco officials told reporters.
Aramco has already brought back some of the lost production and will return to its pre-attack level in late September, Nasser said.
"Not a single shipment to our international customers has been missed or canceled as a result of the attacks, and we will continue to fulfill our mission of providing the energy the world needs," he said. stated in the message, seen by Reuters. Energy Minister Abdulaziz bin Salman said on Tuesday that Saudi Arabia had used its reserves to maintain the flow of oil supplies to customers abroad and to the region. 39, interior of the kingdom.
The Yemen houthi group claimed responsibility for the attacks, but a US official said they came from southwestern Iran. Tehran, which supports the Houthis, has denied any involvement in the attacks.
Saudi Arabia announced that 18 UAVs and three missiles had been fired at Abqaiq, the world's largest oil processing facility, while Khurais' facility had been hit by four missiles.
No casualties have been reported at both sites, although thousands of workers and contractors work and live in the area.
(Report by Rania El Gamal in Riyadh and Maher Chmaytelli in Dubai, edited by Kevin Liffey)
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