Oil industry ‘faces major security threat’

Middle East oil companies are spending billions of dollars on security every year, and the cost is rising fast, according to a new report by The Gulf, a weekly business magazine.

Saudi Arabia alone is expected to spend $14 billion over the next six years to improve oil security, while other energy producers are investing heavily in protecting pipelines, refineries, rigs, tankers and other assets, The Gulf said in its latest issue.


An attack by Al Qaeda militants on the Abqaiq oil facility in Saudi Arabia in 2006 focused the minds of local energy producers on the threat posed by terrorism, senior security officials told The Gulf. Yet many governments outside the Middle East still do not appreciate the dangers posed to their energy supplies, or the cost to producers of protecting the supply chain.