Page 54 - BNE_magazine_10_2019 kolomoisky

54 I Eurasia bne October 2019
Satellite image of smoke rising from Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq oil processing facility in Saudi Arabia.
NEWSBASE:
The attacks on Saudi infrastructure
are the oil industry's 9/11
bne IntelliNews
The attacks on Saudi oil infrastructure could turn out to be the oil industry’s 9/11. Reacting to the news analysts from JP Morgan said: “Clearly oil assets have been massively mispriced. The assumption that production facilities are secure is wrong. They are all vulnerable to attack and production is not secure.”
The immediate impact of the bombings, allegedly carried out by Iranian-backed Houthi based in Yemen, is that it has shaved at least half a trillion dollars
off the mooted IPO of Saudi Arabia’s Aramco that the Kingdom was hoping
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would list with a market capitalisation of some $2 trillion dollars.
For Saudi Aramco, the timing of the attack is a disaster, coming just after it had sought to take control of the narrative surrounding its planned IPO and bail the Kingdom’s finances out in the process.
Having replaced Khalid Al-Falih as Energy Minister and Aramco chairman, Riyadh was setting the stage for
a complete focus on the listing. But now the float will be in disarray as investors scramble to reassess the risks to Saudi
oil production. Was the attack a one off, or the start of a sustained campaign by Saudi’s enemies? The atmosphere
is similar to the shock caused by the Al Qaeda terrorists flying planes into the iconic Twin Trade Towers 20 years ago and striking a blow in the heart of New York that left the US reeling.
It is still not clear who ordered the attacks, but the US has been quick to point the finger at Tehran. In 2001 the US was also quick to act and within months had sent its military into Afghanistan, the de facto headquarters of Al Qaeda in the hope of capturing or killing Osama bin Laden.