Saudis step up security around oil wells, refineries

DHAHRAN, Saudi Arabia -- With war threatening in Iraq, Saudi authorities have increased security at the already heavily guarded oil installations that are the kingdom's economic lifeblood and a crucial supplier to the world.

But the government is not worried so much about spillover from fighting in Iraq. It is looking to the threat from the followers of Osama bin Laden, the exiled Saudi terrorist leader who exhorts his followers to create economic chaos and destabilize the kingdom.

Last summer, Saudi officials arrested al-Qaida sympathizers who tried to blow up the Ras Tanura oil terminal and refinery and the pipelines that serve them. U.S. officials who reported the arrests in October said documents recovered during the war in Afghanistan suggested al-Qaida was planning strikes on oil interests here.

"There is concern that there will be similar attempts in the next couple of months," said Vincent Cannistraro, a former CIA counterterrorism chief. "There's a lot of buzz about the possibility of attacks against Saudi infrastructure by al-Qaida."

Oil analysts say the safety of Saudi Arabia's wells, refineries and pipelines is a concern, especially as the Iraq crisis intensifies. Everyone in the Persian Gulf remembers the enormous clouds of black smoke and pools of oil that Iraqi troops left behind in Kuwait in 1991. It took about two years for Kuwait's oil industry to get back on its feet.

Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil producer at about 8 million barrels a day.

Analysts say it is unlikely danger would come from Iraq since its troops would have to be on the ground to wreak the kind of damage they did to Kuwait's fields. It would take a lucky shot for an Iraqi missile to strike a wellhead, a refinery or a pipeline, and even a single hit likely would not be devastating, the analysts say.

"It's more than just dropping a missile; it's about being able to drop a set of missiles on key strategic locations and knocking them out for some time," said Raad Alkadiri, an analyst with Petroleum Finance Co. in Washington.

Iraq fired nearly 70 Scud missiles at Saudi Arabia, Israel, Qatar and Bahrain during the 1991 Gulf War. Many landed harmlessly in the desert.

A more lethal threat has emerged since then -- Osama bin Laden.

Triggered bin Laden's ire

Bin Laden wanted Muslim guerrillas, who had helped drive the Soviets out of Afghanistan, to defend against any invasion by the Iraqi army occupying Kuwait instead of relying on Americans.

He has been calling for the overthrow of the Saudi royal family, questioning its Islamic credentials and demanding the Americans leave.

Groups sympathetic to bin Laden are suspected by Western diplomats of being behind a string of bombings in Saudi Arabia since late 2000, although the government has blamed gangs fighting over the illegal liquor trade.

Last month, intelligence officers battled gunmen at an apartment building in the capital, Riyadh. A Kuwaiti bystander was killed and three Saudis wounded, and authorities arrested eight men suspected of having links to al-Qaida.

Cannistraro said he was told by Saudi officials that the al-Qaida operation last summer tried to strike overland at Ras Tanura, a sprawling complex on the Gulf shore.

Saboteurs could also try to get at Ras Tanura by sea, if they could get past U.S. warships and others patrolling the Gulf. Or they could try to stage attacks on tankers or other ships like those carried out in Yemen by what is believed to be al-Qaida operatives.

In October 2000, the destroyer USS Cole was bombed while refueling in Aden harbor, killing 17 U.S. sailors and wounding 37. Last fall, the French tanker Limburg was rammed by a small explosives-laden boat off Yemen's coast, killing one Bulgarian crew member.

Saudis usually avoid talking about security issues, but experts say security around oil installations both on land and offshore has been heavy for decades. They say communication links allow all key installations to be monitored around the clock, and the facilities are guarded by soldiers, gunboats and anti-aircraft guns.

"If we're on red alert, I would imagine the oil fields in Saudi Arabia are on red alert," said Henry Lee, director of the natural resources program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.

The Dhahran headquarters of Saudi Aramco, the state oil company that manages all oil operations in the kingdom, also is under tight security.

Office buildings inside the fenced compound have security gates with X-ray scanners for bags and packages. Employees have to show photo ID cards at the gate -- and high-security cards must be handed in when employees go on vacation.

Lee said there are some oil fields -- he declined to name them -- that have custom-made equipment and are particularly vulnerable to an attack since they could not be repaired immediately.

Saudi Arabia is home to the world's largest oil field, Ghawar, 60 miles southwest of Dhahran, and Safaniya, the biggest offshore oil field, 160 miles north of Dhahran.

Some analysts say oil markets would be able to weather an attack on Saudi installations simply because of their sheer size and the vast stocks of its oil in storage.

"The important ports are so large that simply it wouldn't make a difference, and there are so many boats that again it wouldn't make a difference, and there are so many pipelines that again it wouldn't make a difference," said Jan Stuart, head of research for global energy futures at ABN Amro in New York.