Opinion | The mystery of an aerial attack on Saudi oil supplies

Saudi Arabia sleeps early and wakes up with the muezzin’s first call to the faithful at about 4.00am before they offer “fajr” prayers 44 minutes later. On 14 September, between 3.30am and 3.41am, a few minutes before the muezzin would have stirred believers in Khurais and Abqaiq, known for its oil installations, there were a series of deafening explosions. By the time the light of dawn added to the glow of burning crude to wake managers up to the enormity of the mysterious attack, the kingdom had lost 5.7 million barrels of daily oil output, or about 5% of the world’s total.

The drone attack on the Khurais oil field and Abqaiq refinery came 45 days before Saudi Aramco announced its final decision to hold what is billed as the biggest initial public offer (IPO) in world history—going by the state-owned oil producer’s valuation, estimates for which range from $1.5 trillion to $2.2 trillion. The actual figure will only be known once the IPO closes.