Saudi Arabia says oil supply to continue to flow despite Riyadh attacks

Saudi Arabia has reassured the global energy sector that it will continue supplying oil despite recent attacks on the country. Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman declared on Monday that Saudi Arabia is "fearless, combatant and determined," asserting that the kingdom has no room for fear. The comments came after four missile strikes on King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh over five days, resulting in 12 deaths and 309 injuries.

Another projectile hit the airport on Sunday evening, killing one person and injuring 11. The Saudi-led coalition in Yemen attributed the attacks to Iran-backed Houthi rebels. Despite the security risks, Saudi Arabia plans to proceed with high-level energy meetings, including Sunday's International Energy Forum ministerial talks and the World Petroleum Congress (WPC) conference, which the kingdom is hosting for the first time.

Prince Abdulaziz emphasized that Riyadh is the "capital of energy security," and the attendance of delegates proves that risks have not disappeared. The attacks have heightened concerns about Saudi Arabia's ability to maintain oil supply during conflicts, particularly as threats escalate around the Strait of Hormuz and Bab Al Mandeb strait, two critical energy chokepoints.

Saudi Arabia has invested in storage, redundancy, and alternative export routes, with the East-West pipeline carrying crude from eastern oilfields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. However, the pipeline was halted after Houthi attacks in September, but it recovered by October 6, reaching about 5.8 million barrels per day compared to a capacity of about seven million bpd.

Prince Abdulaziz stressed that resilience depends on both infrastructure and domestic expertise, noting that pipelines, systems, and facilities require active human intervention to restore operations. At the IEF meeting on Sunday, Prince Abdulaziz pledged that Saudi Arabia would continue supplying domestic and international customers "regardless of circumstances."

The meeting took place amid a volatile market backdrop, with Brent crude prices hovering around $104 a barrel due to the Riyadh attacks and incidents involving two tankers near the Strait of Hormuz and Oman.