US and Saudi authorities are stepping up security measures against potential sea-borne terrorist attacks on oil facilities in the kingdom even as they prepare for a possible war with Iraq.
Saudi Arabia's oil facilities, including its main oil export terminals at Ras Tanura in the Persian Gulf and Yanbu on the Red Sea, have emerged as primary targets with increased security efforts being undertaken to protect them.
Sources in Washington, DC, told OGJ that "Saudi authorities are concerned that any new attack will be from the sea, and the Saudis have little capability at this point to protect against a sea-borne attack."
Another source told OGJ that the Saudis have some 11 coastal patrol boats but "lack sufficient trained personnel—especially divers—to carry out counter-terrorism measures on their own."
A terrorist bomb in the Saudi oil terminal at Ras Tanura or a supertanker blown up by limpet mines stuck to its hull by terrorist frogmen would quickly move the world economy from slump to depression, analysts say.
While preparations for a war with Iraq are mounting, Iraqi forces seem unlikely to make any attack on Saudi oil facilities.
"I don't believe Iraq could meaningfully attack Ras Tanura's export capability from the sea using small craft or its few remaining missile craft," Middle East military expert Anthony Cordesman told OGJ.
He was less certain about Al Qaeda, however, and said "trying to predict levels of sabotage is difficult."
US authorities are taking no chances. Last month, they ordered deployment of 10 cutters, measuring 110 ft, from the US Coast Guard, along with some 600 personnel, to the gulf to protect US military ships, oil tankers, and other vessels from terrorist attacks.
A USCG spokesman told OGJ that the aim of the deployment is to "deter the suicide bomb threat"—a reference to tactics employed by Al Qaeda against the USS Cole in October 2000 and the tanker Limburg in October 2002. Both ships sustained heavy damage and loss of life. About 200 of the Coast Guard personnel belong to port security units, which are trained in counter-terrorism activities. The USCG spokesman declined to say where the cutters or personnel would be deployed or when they would arrive.
During the 1990-91 Persian Gulf War, USCG crews, cutters, and port security units were deployed to the region. One port security unit was assigned to Bahrain, while the other two were stationed in Saudi Arabia at Jubail and Dammam.
Increased concern over Saudi oil facilities follows reports of an attack planned last summer by the Al Qaeda terrorist network on an oil pipeline that feeds the export terminal at Ras Tanura.
The earlier plot was thwarted when the Central Intelligence Agency provided intelligence to its Saudi counterparts that an oil facility would be targeted, leading to the arrest of five people.
News of the earlier plan emerged last October after the Limburg attack. At the time, Al Qaeda issued a statement threatening oil facilities and transit routes.
Authorities in the kingdom are moving ahead with development of the Saudi Strategic Storage Program (SSSP).
Sponsored by the Saudi Ministry of Defense and Aviation, the SSSP is an integrated part of the emergency national plan for supplying and distributing petroleum products.
Under the plan, the Saudi government will invest more than $2.9 billion to build five storage facilities in Riyadh, Jeddah, Abha, Madinah, and Qassim to ensure energy supplies in emergency situations.
Prince Sultan, Saudi Arabia's second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, commissioned the kingdom's third strategic storage facility in Abha Feb. 18.
The Abha facility is linked to the distribution center at Jizan on the Red Sea by a 245 km pipeline. The first storage facility in Alkharj, near Riyadh, was opened on Feb. 23, 1999, while the second, in Jeddah, began operation Aug. 27, 2002.
The strategic storage systems will have a total combined capacity of 42 million bbl of refined oil products including jet fuel, gasoline, and diesel. A royal decree authorized Saudi Aramco to operate and maintain all the strategic storage facilities as they are completed. It is expected that the last site will be handed over to Saudi Aramco in January 2009.
The storage facilities are linked with Saudi Aramco's operation control center in Dhahran, which monitors the level of storage and quality of petroleum, and are also linked with the Defense and Aviation Ministry for emergency monitoring.