- Drone strikes on the heart of the Saudi oil industry forced the kingdom to shut down half its crude production on Saturday, amounting to a loss of about 5M barrels a day, or roughly 5% of the world's daily production of crude oil, WSJ reports.
- Yemen's Iranian-aligned Houthi rebels claimed credit for the attack, saying they sent 10 drones to strike at important Aramco (ARMCO) facilities, including the world's largest oil processing plant and a major oil field.
- Crude prices will be on watch when trading reopens on Sunday evening.
- Update: The production cut was taken as a precautionary measure, but most output will be restored with 48 hours, sources told Reuters, asking to not to identified before an official announcement.
- Go deeper: While an oil price increase could benefit Aramco's upcoming IPO, if the Saudis can't turn production back on quickly, it could rattle investor confidence in the kingdom's national oil company.
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