Drone Attack on Shaybah Field Installations, Saudi Arabia

[Abby Gham + 9]

Saudi oil minister Khalid Al-Falih announced that Shaybah Field was attacked today by Houthi rebels' drones sent from Yemen. The official stated that there was a minor damage at the gas plant. On the other side, the Houthis' military spokesman stated that they have launched the largest drone attack, using 10 unmanned airplanes, since the beginning of the conflict back in 2015.

This recent development took place during the weekend but will certainly have its impact on oil prices when markets open on Monday.

Shaybah field is located in the Southeastern part of Saudi in the empty quarter south of the border with UAE. It has an estimated reserves of nearly 14.2 Billion Bbls. Production from the field started in 1998 and is currently producing at 1 million Bbl/day.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shaybah_oil_field

 

Edited August 20, 2019 by Abby Gham

[Abby Gham + 9]

The associated press (AP) published an article on 17th of August with a satellite image showing black smoke rising from the vicinity of the oil processing plant in Shaybah field.

https://apnews.com/9edb1f71010847f2b321d1951997e797

Annotation attached to the satellite image says " This Saturday, Aug. 17, 2019 false-color image from the European Commission's Sentinel-2 satellite that was processed by Sinergise's Sentinel Hub website shows smoke rising from a natural gas facility at the Shaybah oil field in Saudi Arabia after a drone attack claimed by Yemen's Houthi rebels. Drones launched by the Houthis attacked a massive oil and gas field deep inside Saudi Arabia's sprawling desert on Saturday, causing what the kingdom described as a "limited fire" in the second such recent attack on its crucial energy industry. (European Commission via AP) shows smoke rising from a natural gas facility at the Shaybah oil field in Saudi Arabia"

 

However, Something doesn't seem right about this picture. Can anyone spot what's wrong with it???

The smoke is not coming from the plant nor from any natural gas facility but from the fire pit hundreds of meters away from any plant facility. Fire pits are only used in emergency shutdowns or when hydrocarbons are diverted from the main stream going into the plant, to where they can be burned until plant operation is back to normal.

Here are images from google earth of Shaybah processing plant and the fire pit where smoke is coming from.

Edited August 20, 2019 by Abby Gham
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