Flaring tensions in the Persian Gulf have seen some of the world’s biggest crude deposits, along with processing and transport infrastructure and vessels, targeted by explosives-laden drones and bombings.

The threats to the kingdom’s crude production and infrastructure shine a light on the risk to global oil supply given that state-owned Saudi Aramco is the world’s largest exporter. Saudi Arabia’s more than 100 crude deposits contain some 257 Bbbl of proved oil reserves, the world’s biggest conventional finds.

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., as Aramco is officially known, is able to pump as much as 12 MMbpd. The company produced 10 MMbpd during the first half of the year, keeping as a policy some 2 MMbbl of capacity unused to allow it to react to any supply shortages. Aramco exports 7 MMbbl/d, more than any other company. This makes its role as a global swing producer and the security of its oil fields vital to global markets.

About three quarters of Aramco’s daily output come from four main fields: Ghawar, Khurais, Safaniyah and Shaybah. Those main deposits are in the eastern part of the country, either tucked between dunes and below vast expanses of desert or sitting underneath the waters of the Persian Gulf. Most of that crude passes through the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow shipping chokepoint leading out of the Gulf.

Source: worldoil.com