DOHA, April 24: The US energy secretary called on Monday for more security at oil facilities around the world, saying Riyadh had asked Washington for help after a botched attack at a plant in the country.
Samuel Bodman also warned that the threat of new attacks against Saudi oil infrastructure remained high and said that record oil prices are a source of great pain to the US and world economies.
“It is important that we enhance the physical security of our facilities,” Mr Bodman told reporters on the sidelines of the 10th Energy Forum in Doha.
“We saw that in our country with respect to the impact of Hurricane Katrina, we have seen the events at Abqaiq, we have seen other issues. So I think it is very important that we all in a responsible fashion, look after our physical facilities and that we work together
to minimise supply disruptions.”
Two suicide bombers blew themselves up on Feb 24 outside the world’s largest oil processing plant in Abqaiq, eastern Saudi Arabia.
Two security guards were killed in the botched attack.
Mr Bodman said he was on the telephone with his Saudi counterpart Ali al Nuaimi on the day of the attack.
“I told him that anything that the US government could do we would make that available,” he said.
“Subsequently there have been some requests for assistance (by the Saudi government) from the US government and it has been forthcoming and I would rather not go into the details of that.”
Asked if he believed the risk of another attempt on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities was high, Mr Bodman said: “Sure, they did it once ... you have to be prepared to deal with a repeat attack. To do otherwise would be irresponsible.”
Mr Bodman said the United States was also be cooperating closely with other Gulf Arab states in securing vital oil infrastructure in the region.—AFP
