By Dmitry Zhdannikov
LONDON, Oct 15 (Reuters) - When attack drones struck Saudi Aramco's biggest oil pipeline last month, satellite images showed one of its pumping stations burnt to ashes. By the next day, scores of bulldozers were already building a new pipeline.
Within days pumping resumed.
The speed of the recovery illustrates how the world's biggest oil producer has transformed its ability to operate under attack after years of assaults on energy infrastructure across the region.
"Today, our teams
can handle multiple incidents simultaneously, and we continue to build this capability," Saudi state oil firm Aramco's chief executive Amin Nasser told Reuters in an interview last week.
Nasser said Aramco has built specialised rapid-response teams, expanded emergency stockpiles for repairs and deployed drones to assess damage even while incidents are still unfolding.
Lessons on how to operate under fire came after drones and missiles hit Aramco's major oil processing facility in Abqaiq in 2019, temporarily knocking out half of Aramco's production.
"After Abqaiq in 2019, we came up with the idea of rapid response teams, or what we call zero-hour responders," Nasser said.
The company, long-viewed as one of the most technically advanced oil producers, then began to prepare for the possibility of multiple attacks on its facilities at the same time, Nasser said.
Those capabilities have been repeatedly tested since the US and Israel attacked Iran in February this year and Iran and its proxies retaliated with strikes that hit Middle Eastern infrastructure.
The firm's crisis-management capabilities were tested again on Tuesday when a Houthi attack struck the company's headquarters complex, causing extensive damage.
DRONES AND WAREHOUSES SPEED RECOVERY
Saudi daily oil output dropped below 7 million barrels for most of the first six months of the war, down from over 10 million barrels before the war, according to data from the International Energy Agency.
Like other Gulf producers, Saudi Arabia's oil exports have been constrained by attacks on tankers and a shortage of ships restricting crude flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
Yet Aramco has managed to repair damaged facilities and restore operations quickly thanks to specialised response teams, years of contingency planning, drone technology and abundant spare parts.
Technology has allowed Aramco to compress the time between an attack and the start of repairs, Nasser said.
The company's response to incidents was now more than six times faster than the industry average, he added, meaning it often takes just days to restart a facility even after significant damage.
Normally, oil firms first contain an incident and then assess the damage, but Aramco begins assessment with drones while an incident is still unfolding, Nasser said.
"Inspection drones provide an exceptional level of visibility and detail," Nasser said. "By the time the situation is under control, we are ready to get to work."
Response teams can quickly send repair materials to a site before work begins, Nasser said.
Some 90% of materials needed for repairs are produced locally or held in a local warehouse as Aramco has spent years building up supply chains and inventories.
The ability to maintain production despite repeated attacks has become an important selling point with Aramco's customers, Nasser said.
"They see that Aramco is able to deliver under different scenarios."
While Saudi oil production recovered to about 8 million barrels a day in September, export routes remain vulnerable to disruptions beyond Aramco's control.
The company is studying possible alternative routes to the Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb and Suez, Nasser said, without elaborating.
"Details will be disclosed if and when a final decision is made," he said.
(dmitri.zhdannikov@reuters.com;Editing by Elaine Hardcastle)
