Foiled Attack on Saudi Oil Sends Ominous Message

Damage to the world’s ‘jugular vein’ would have been disastrous. Anxiety is ever-present.

…”This is a major-league deal,” said Matthew Simmons, an oil-industry consultant who has written a book about Saudi Arabia’s role in the world petroleum market. “This shows that the terrorists are acutely aware of where you want to go for the jugular vein.”

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Within the vast, sprawling infrastructure of oil production, it would be difficult to find a target more vital to the global marketplace than the Abqaiq plant. Saudi Arabia supplies 11% of world oil consumption and is the third-largest exporter to the United States, after Canada and Mexico. At Abqaiq each day, the equivalent of 6 million barrels is stripped of hydrogen sulfide and water and prepared for export.

“If there had been a hit