Middle East/North Africa

Saudi Arabia: Oil production will be restored by the end of the month

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister says that the country expects to return to full oil production by the end of the month following drone attacks on the supply chain over the weekend. 

Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman also said Tuesday that more than half of the crude oil production stopped by the strikes had been restored, according to The Associated Press

“Where would you find a company in this whole world that went through such a devastating attack and came out like a phoenix?” he said, referring to the state-owned Aramco firm.{mosads}

A Saturday attack took out 5.7 million barrels of oil production each day, amounting to about 5 percent of the daily production globally. The energy minister said the country will be back to 11 million barrels daily by the end of September. 

Oil prices spiked Monday following the attack but calmed somewhat on Tuesday. 

Iran-supported Houthi rebels in Yemen have claimed responsibility for the attack, though U.S. officials including Secretary of State Mike Pompeo have blamed Iran directly, an accusation Tehran denies. 

Saudi King Salman appointed Prince Abdulaziz, his son and the half brother of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to lead the energy ministry earlier this month.