Saudi on track to partly restore oil output as market quakes

September 16, 2019: Saudi Arabia is believed to be on track to quickly restore at least a third of its oil production lost to devastating attacks, as it scrambles to soothe market jitters ahead of a mega stock listing.

Oil prices rocketed on Monday after the strikes on Abqaiq -- the world's largest oil processing facility -- and the Khurais oil field in eastern Saudi Arabia knocked out nearly half of the top crude exporter's production.

Seeking to assuage nervous markets, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman has said the kingdom would use its vast inventories to partially make up for lost production, and the US also authorized the release of its strategic reserves.

But benchmark Brent crude surged by 20 percent on Monday -- the biggest gain since the 1991 Gulf War -- after US President Donald Trump hinted at a military response to the attacks his administration has blamed on Iran.

The Energy Intelligence specialist newsletter cited industry sources as saying Aramco was "close to restoring as much as 40 percent" of the lost production, or about 2.3 million barrels per day (bdp).

The Wall Street Journal cited people familiar with the damage estimates as saying the hit facilities would take weeks to return to full production capacity.

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