Wednesday, December 15, 2021
Saudi officials say shrapnel from intercepted Houthi missiles damaged an Aramco office tower in Riyadh on Nov 8, as both sides traded unverified strike claims and Brent fell toward $97.
Missile debris damaged an Aramco office tower in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday, November 8. Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry called it an "attempted" attack and said falling shrapnel caused minor damage to the administrative building, with no injuries or deaths, Al Jazeera reported. A Reuters witness saw windows blown out across several floors of the Aramco Tower in the King Abdullah Financial District. The two accounts agree the building was hit. They differ on how much, and no production or export outage had been reported as of Monday morning.
Most other details rest on claims from the two sides. Saudi-led coalition spokesman Maj. Gen. Turki al-Maliki said air defenses destroyed ballistic missiles aimed at Riyadh and the Eastern Province, plus cruise missiles and a drone. Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the group ran six operations against Aramco sites, Riyadh's King Khalid International Airport and Saudi military positions. Neither account has been independently verified. Drop Site News had not reported on the attack as of this morning, so there is no independent ground account to set beside the official ones.
The attack followed deadly strikes in Yemen. The Houthi-run health ministry said Saudi-led air strikes on al-Shariyah, near Sanaa, killed 33 people on Saturday, November 7, including 13 children. Houthi media reported lower tolls earlier in the day, so the reported range runs from 11 to 33 dead. The coalition has not commented, and Al Jazeera said it could not verify the figures. The UN says more than 1,600 people have been killed and about 300,000 displaced since the Saudi-Houthi fighting resumed in July. In October, a strike on Riyadh's main airport killed an American citizen.
Oil traders shrugged at the damage. Brent crude fell more than 16% last week, its steepest weekly drop since April 2020, and slid toward $97 a barrel on Monday, Bloomberg data cited by Nairametrics shows. Hopes for a deal between the US and Iran are pulling prices down. AAA says the national gas average fell 12 cents in a week but is still at a record high for November. Both numbers are as of this weekend and are expected to swing with each new attack on Saudi oil.
A falling price is a good moment to refill, not a reason to stop watching. Saudi oil sites are now regular targets, and the Strait of Hormuz remains mostly closed. One hit on a refinery could reverse this week's drop within days. Keep your tank above half, and if you store fuel for a generator, top it off while prices ease. The steps to prepare for a gas shortage cover rotation and safe storage. If anyone in your family lives or travels in Saudi Arabia, enroll them in the State Department's STEP program so the embassy can reach them with alerts.
Where it stands now: the Aramco tower damage is confirmed, but the size of it is not, and the Yemen casualty count is unsettled. The Houthi claims against oil facilities remain unverified. This week, set aside a small fuel cushion in your budget using your economic preparedness plan. Be Prepared Not Scared!
