Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Aramco has emerged from the Sept. 14 attacks on its oil facilities “stronger than ever”, Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser told employees in a message.

“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,” he told Aramco staff and employees on the occasion of Saudi Arabia’s 89th National Day which will be celebrated on Sept. 23.

Nasser added that the attacks “cemented to the world the great importance of Saudi Arabia and its oil industry.”

Nasser also commended Saudi Arabia's Civil Defense forces, and heroic employees who helped in containing the damage of the attacks.

“We have another reason for national pride and that is the great accomplishment the heroic employees, in support of Civil Defense teams, achieved in containing the damage from the sabotage attacks,” he said.

“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.”

Six days after the assault, which hit at the heart of the Saudi energy industry and intensified a decades-long struggle with arch-rival Iran, the state oil giant Aramco invited reporters on Friday to observe the damage and the repair efforts.

Thousands of employees and contractors have been pulled from other projects to work around-the-clock to bring production back. Aramco is shipping equipment from the United States and Europe to rebuild the damaged facilities, Aramco officials told reporters.

Aramco already brought back part of the lost production and will return to pre-attacks level end of 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 in the message. — With inputs from Agencies