Loose lips sink tankers: Saudi Aramco warns employees to avoid social media

The Saudi oil company Aramco has warned employees that they will face 'severe disciplinary action' if they share images and videos, in the aftermath of drone attacks on oil facilities.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab

23 September, 2019

Aramco employees will no longer be able to share images of oil facilities [Getty]

The Saudi state-owned oil company Aramco has warned its employees not to upload, send, or share photographs or videos of restricted areas or areas under construction in its oil facilities.

Last week, two major Aramco facilities were attacked by drones, severely disrupting global oil supply and causing an unprecedent jump in oil prices. Yemen’s rebel Houthi movement claimed responsibility, but the US and the UK have accused Iran of being behind the attacks.

The attacks exacerbated already heightened tensions in the region, with Saudi Arabia saying that it would consider them an “act of war” by Iran if it was found to have carried out the attacks. Iran has denied any role in the incidents, and the US announced it would deploy troops to the region.

Aramco said that any employee not complying with the warning would be subject to “severe disciplinary action”, according to the Saudi newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat.

The warning came as the Wall Street Journal reported that repair work to the two damaged oil facilities could take months longer than expected.

Aramco executives had previously said that the oil facilities would be in full working order within 10 weeks.

Aramco has been in emergency talks with oil equipment makers, offering to pay premium rates for repair work in order to get the oil facilities running, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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