Oil explosion in Saudi Arabia

-- Oil went up $3 a barrel within two hours of this. Looking at all three reports is appears as though the damage is major, if not complete destruction as claimed by Iran's Press TV.

There are several undeniable messages. First, Iran has struck a major blow to Saudi Arabia and the world's confidence in it. The amount of oil taken out of global production, for an undetermined time, will definitely be significant. But that is not the biggest point. The message now seen by the world is that Saudi Arabia is completely vulnerable. Oil is headed for the moon. Saudi Arabia is destabilizing, and Iran is flexing serious muscle. And the West is about to mess its pants.

The biggest lesson of all is that nations that understand and react to the world as if Peak Oil were true are succeeding. While those nations in denial, delusion and fantasy are failing rapidly.

Chaos en route... -- MCR

Markets react to explosion which destroys oil pipelines in Saudi Arabia's Awamiya

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/229494.html

An explosion has hit oil pipelines in the flashpoint Saudi Arabian city of Awamiyah in the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province.

Saudi Arabia's Eastern Revolution hits the oil sector: pipeline under fire

http://www.thearabdigest.com/2012/03/saudi-arabias-eastern-revolution.html

For the first time in decades, the Eastern Saudi Arabian volatile situation has reached the vital oil sector. A pipeline between Awamiya and Safwa has been reportedly targeted, and is under fire; the Saudi government sources were quick to claim that the fire is not an explosion and is one kilometer away from the pipeline. Our correspondent in Qatif confirmed that the area under fire is indeed where major pipelines are located; tomorrow is the anniversary of Fatima Zahraa's death, the prophet Mohamad's only daughter. It is an important and symbolic date for Saudi Shiites, and might constitute a suitable timing for such an escalation against the Saudi government's ongoing repression in the region. 

Our correspondent in the area has said "I know the region where the photo was taken, it is between Safwa and Awamiya where major pipelines towards Ras Tanura are located". He said that "this is a message to the U.S. administration to convince Saudi Arabia's government to engage in serious reform". He continued that "there is another oil field on Awamiya's borders, and a second one on the edge of Safwa ... these are skirmishes to get American attention". (Saudi Arabia's revolt rarely gets media attention, especially that the U.S. is a major ally of the royal family)

The Arab Digest correspondent also said that "the region where the Awamiya oil field is located is called alrams, it is an agricultural land. Senior Saudi royal family members stole acres of this land, especially the late crown prince Sultan Ben Abdul Aziz. After steeling the land, and following local anger, he offered to sell it to them again for a high price. People still remember this incident very will. Recently, the government has made plans to destroy the natural landscape of this region, but the locals are protesting against this". The Saudi government has been trying through resettlement plans to change the demographics of the Eastern region, where Shiites remain a majority.

While the Saudi Government usually points a finger at Iran whenever a protest occurs in Qatif, Eastern Saudi activists rightly note that their cause and movement dates back decades before Iran's Islamic revolution (1979).

Awamiya's pipelines lead to Ras Tanura, the world's largest petroleum port, also located in Eastern Saudi Arabia.   

Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority, mostly residing in the oil rich east, has been protesting for years against State-sponsored discrimination and deprivation of local resources. They are treated as second class citizens, denied public sector jobs, and vital development for their oil rich areas. Saudi Arabia's powerful Wahhabi religious establishment considers Shiites heretics, and constantly incites against them. Among their demands, is a ban on media and mosque discrimination, as Shiites are regularly mocked and called heretics/infidels on TV channels.

Security forces have killed two protesters in Awamiya, Eastern Saudi Arabia. They are launching a series of arrests and raids on houses, schools and mosques. The government is dealing with the situation Saudi-style: a government newspaper columnist threatened the protesting residents with ethnic cleansing, while the Mufti cited a verse on crucifixion when discussing the proper punishment.

This is Awamiya this evening, protesters have blocked the Police road after arrests in the town.

The Eastern region is where most of the oil fields are based. The events, if they continue, might force Saudi Arabia to lower its production expectations this year, thus affecting world supplies, and possible the world economy.

Saudi Official Says Pipeline Explosion 

Report Is False

http://www.cnbc.com/id/46579141/

Crude oil fell back below $109 per barrel after an Iranian media report of an explosion of a Saudi oil pipeline, which helped fuel a surge of more than $5 a barrel in oil futures on Thursday, was proved to be untrue.

Following the report, the price of U.S. crude oil jumped over $110 a barrel after earlier settling [CLCV1  108.77    1.70  (+1.59%)   ] at $108.84 a barrel. Crude oil has since fallen back to $108.93 per barrel.

Brent crude futures jumped more than $5 following the report after earlier settling [LCOCV1  126.15    3.49  (+2.85%)   ] at $126.20.

Brent crude was up $5.18 at $127.84 a barrel, having reached $128.40, the highest intraday price since July 23, 2008, when front-month Brent reached $129.50.

Saudi industry sources have told CNBC that the report about the pipeline explosion is "completely false."

"An explosion has hit oil pipelines in the flashpoint Saudi Arabian city of Awamiyah in the kingdom's oil-rich Eastern Province," PressTV said on its website without providing any further information or sourcing. The headline appeared to have been posted at 2:19 EST.

A Saudi oil source had earlier on Thursday denied a separate report by a dissident that appeared to refer to a fire on a pipeline linking the large oil port of Ras Tanura to an oil processing facility in Abqaiq. It was not clear whether the two reports were relate