Saudi: Oil output fully restored after attacks

Saudi Arabia has fully restored oil output after attacks on its facilities last month and is now focusing on the listing of its energy giant Saudi Aramco, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz Bin Salman said.

The kingdom’s current oil production capacity stands at 11.3 million barrels per day, he told an energy conference in Moscow today.

This week, Fitch Ratings, considered one of the largest ratings firms in the world, lowered Riyadh’s credit rating from A+ to A citing vulnerabilities in the kingdom’s economic infrastructure, diminishing financial reserves, deteriorating balance sheets and rising government debt. The announcement came as a result of the attack on its oil installation over two weeks ago which Yemen’s Houthi group claimed responsibility for.

The downgrade has the potential to dent investor confidence, a prospect which the kingdom can ill afford. Riyadh, under the Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman, has embarked on the largest modernisation programme in the country’s history. To succeed it needs to attract investment from foreign companies but confidence in the Saudis has suffered a major blow.

UN: Bin Salman exonerating himself from Khashoggi’s murder