Saudi Aramco says it is on alert as Bin Laden issues new threat

Saudi Aramco says it is on alert as Bin Laden issues new threat

Dubai (Platts)--20Dec2004


Saudi Aramco said Sunday the kingdom's oilfields, which contain some 25% of
the world's reserves, were safe and the state-owned company was on alert at
all times against possible attack. The statement was issued in response to a
question by Platts about whether Saudi Aramco had taken additional security
precautions after an audiotape purportedly from al-Qaeda leader Osama bin
Laden last Thursday called on his followers to attack oil installations in
Iraq and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf. On Saturday, the Saudi wing of
al-Qaeda posted a statement on an Islamic web site calling on its fighters to
attack oil installations in Saudi Arabia. "As the company responsible for the
world's largest proven reserves of oil, Saudi Aramco is keenly aware of its
responsibility for ensuring the safety and well-being of employees, their
families and company facilities at which they live and work," said Aramco in
the statement.

"For this reason, Saudi Aramco trains and equips a security force that is
professional and responsive. The company's security is in effect 'on alert' at
all times." Saudi Arabia contains a quarter of the world's crude oil reserves
and Saudi Aramco is the state oil and gas monopoly. Current production is
running at 9.5-mil b/d. Aramco said company communities are protected by
"multiple levels of armed guards" while facilities like refineries and
terminals are guarded by "mutliple levels of armed Saudi Aramco security
personnel working in close coordination with Saudi government security forces.
In short, Saudi Aramco has long recognized the importance of its business to
the world's economy and takes its responsibility very seriously." "Take jihad
(holy war) to stop (the Americans) getting hold of (the oil). Concentrate your
operations on the oil, in particular in Iraq and the Gulf," said the voice on
the tape purported to be that of the al-Qaeda leader.

The authenticity of the tape, which was broadcast on a main Islamist site on
the Internet, could not be immediately verified but the voice sounded like
that of the al-Qaeda leader. Another statement issued Sunday called on
al-Qaeda supporters to attack oil sites in the world's top oil exporting
nation Saudi Arabia, according to a statement posted on an Islamist Internet
site Sunday, AFP reported. The message, whose authenticity could not be
verified, appeared after the earlier audiotape by bin Laden. "We call on all
the mujahedeen to target the sources of oil which do not serve the Islamic
nation," said the statement attributed to the al-Qaeda Organisation in the
Arabian Peninsula, the Saudi wing of the shadowy group, AFP reported. The
statement, posted Saturday, also urged militants to "strike all foreign
targets and the hideouts of the tyrants to rid the peninsula of the infidels
and their supporters." Saudi Arabian crown prince Abdullah, meanwhile, vowed
to eradicate terrorism which he said was tarnishing the image of Islam.

"The deviant group..committed more than terrorism. They tarnished your Islam
and distorted your belief before the rest of the world," the kingdom's de
facto leader told a group of Saudi dignitaries. The term "deviant group" is
used to refer to sympathisers of al-Qaeda. "We will track them (the
terrorists) for another 20, 30, 50 years. We shall not leave them," the prince
said. Al-Qaeda, which claimed responsibility for the Dec 6 attack on the US
consulate in the Saudi Red Sea port city of Jeddah warned there would be
further attacks. "In the next few days there will be new (operations) in the
jihad (holy war) against the tyrants and the enemies of Islam," it warned.
Since May last year, Saudi Arabia has been battling a wave of deadly attacks
in the ultra-conservative kingdom which have been blamed on supporters of the
Saudi-born bin Laden. In the latest attack claimed by al-Qaeda's Saudi branch,
gunmen stormed the US consulate in the commercial capital of Jeddah Dec 6,
killing five non-American staff and losing four of their number.

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