The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud chaired the Cabinet's session at Al-Salam Palace in Jeddah on Tuesday afternoon. At the outset of the session, the King expressed thanks and appreciation to the leaders of countries, officials of states, regional and international organizations and all those who expressed condemnation of the sabotage attack on two Aramco plants in Abqaiq and Khurais, reaffirming the Kingdom's ability to deal with the effects of such cowardly attacks which do not only target vital installations of the Kingdom, but also target global oil supplies and threaten the stability of the global economy. Minister of Media Turki bin Abdullah Al-Shabanah said in a statement to Saudi Press Agency that the Cabinet reiterated that the aim of this unprecedented sabotage aggression that threatens the international peace and security is directed primarily at global energy supplies and it is an extension of previous acts of aggression on Saudi Aramco's pumping stations by using Iranian weapons, calling on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities in condemning those behind it and clearly confronting these barbaric acts that touch the nerve of the global economy. The Cabinet was briefed by the Minister of Energy on the serious consequences of the blatant sabotage attack on Saudi Aramco oil plants in Abqaiq and Khurais, which according to preliminary estimates, led to the suspension of quantities of crude oil supplies estimated at (5.7) million barrels, in addition to the suspension of the production of associated gas quantities estimated at (2) billion cubic feet per day, and a decrease of about (50)% of the supplies of ethane gas and natural gas liquids. The Cabinet affirmed that this cowardly attack on the largest and most important crude oil processing plants in the world is an extension of repeated attacks on vital facilities which threatened the freedom of navigation and affected the stability of the growth of the global economy. The Cabinet stressed that the Kingdom will defend its lands and vital facilities and it is able to respond to those acts whatever their source, calling on the international community to take tougher measures to stop these blatant attacks that threaten the region, the security of oil supplies and the global economy, and to hold accountable and deter those behind them. --More 15:26 LOCAL TIME 12:26 GMT 0008 www.spa.gov.sa/1970278
