World oil market in fear of terror attack in Saudi Arabia

An attack — or even an attempted attack — by Islamic extremists on Saudi Arabia’s oil sector would have disastrous consequences on the world market and the price per barrel, analysts warn.

Of more than 700 people arrested in the course of the last six months in Saudi Arabia, dozens had been part of cells charged with preparing attacks against oil sites, according to authorities in Riyadh.
With the price per barrel rising constantly and the capacity to increase global production almost non-existent, apart from in Saudi Arabia, the world market has never been so vulnerable to an offensive by Jihadists in the kingdom, they said.

Michael Klare, head of the University of Massachusetts’s peace and world security programme and author of the book “Resource Wars”, said that even if an attack caused little damage, the impact would still be enormous.

“There would be a tremendous psychological effect because the market is already prepared to expect terrorist events like this. It would have an immediate effect on prices,” he said.

Econmic Times