Saudi Arabia has restored half the oil output it lost in weekend attacks on its production facilities.
The world’s largest oil exporter, Saudi Arabia expects production levels to return to normal at its main crude processing plant by the end of September, the country’s energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said Tuesday at a press conference, in comments reported by the Associated Press.
The attack Saturday on a Saudi oil field and the Abqaiq processing facility caused the loss of nearly 6 million barrels of oil per day — about 5% of the world’s daily crude oil production.
The price of Brent crude, the global benchmark, rose as much as 18% — to $70.98 per barrel — before settling down and closing Monday at less than $62 per barrel. The initial spike was the biggest oil price increase since the 1991 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait ahead of the Gulf War.
U.S. gas prices have stayed relatively stable, increasing as of Tuesday afternoon to $2.59 per gallon on average, compared to $2.56 per gallon one week ago.
Oil market watchers say the long-term impact of the lost production depends on how long it takes Saudi Arabia to repair damage to Abqaiq. The timeline set by Saudi Arabia’s energy minister is faster than some analysts projected.
“The real significance of the attack has yet to be seen,” Antoine Halff, a senior research scholar at Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy, told the Washington Examiner. “Right now there is not a supply problem for the market. We don’t have a major crisis. If the outage is long term, it’s a real problem.”
President Trump said Tuesday he does not expect to release oil from U.S. emergency supplies, although he has authorized the Energy Department to tap the Strategic Petroleum Reserve if necessary.
“I don’t think I need to, but I’m willing to do it,” Trump told reporters during a flight to California. “I don’t believe I need to, but if we want to use strategic oil reserves, I would open them up.”
[Opinion: How we know Iran attacked Saudi Arabia]
