Energy minister stays calm on Saudi refinery attacks

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Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong.
Energy Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong.

Bangkok – Thailand’s Energy Minister, Sontirat Sontijirawong, said Saturday’s drone attacks on two major oil refinery plants in Saudi Arabia, which is the world’s largest oil exporting country, have not affected Thailand as an oil importing country.

Sontirat said the Ministry of Energy has received reports that there has been no immediate effect on the exports of Saudi oil, since the attacks did not affect Aramco’s oil tank farm from which oil is exported to the Petroleum Authority of Thailand. However, the ministry has laid out plans to cope with emergency situations, similar to those applied during the earlier Hormuz Strait incident.

Sontirat said Thailand has an adequate volume of crude oil in reserve and sufficient refined oil and would have no shortage problem if Saudi oil exports were in trouble on a short-term basis.