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Saudi Oil Site Reportedly Attacked

Posted on: Friday, 24 February 2006, 09:00 CST

CAIRO, Egypt - A Saudi oil official said an explosion rocked a major oil processing facility Friday in eastern Saudi Arabia. An Arab satellite television station reported that one pipeline was damaged in an attack by suicide bombers in two explosives-packed cars.

One vehicle detonated when guards opened fire as it attempted to drive through the facility's gates, according to the Saudi-owned channel Al-Arabiya, which did not give a source for the report.

Al-Arabiya said that oil briefly stopped flowing through the facility after the attack but has resumed.

It was the first attack on an oil facility in the kingdom in recent memory, although oil company offices previously have been attacked.

Crude-oil futures soared nearly $2 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, to $62.51 a barrel.

A second vehicle was stopped and two people inside it were killed, Al-Arabiya said. None of the guards were hurt, it said.

The attackers' cars bore the logo of Aramco, the state oil company that owns the facility, Al-Arabiya said.

The Saudi oil official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he did not know the cause of the explosion in Buqayq, a major oil complex on the eastern side of Saudi Arabia, about 45 miles southwest of Dammam.

Saudi Interior Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Mansour al-Turki told The Associated Press: "I have no information. I am following this up."

Source: Associated Press/AP Online

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