Saudi Aramco Evacuates Dhahran Headquarters as Houthi Attacks Intensify

Saudi Aramco has told staff to evacuate its headquarters in Dhahran, in eastern Saudi Arabia, and work remotely, six people with knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday, October 22. Bloomberg reported the same order, citing people familiar with the situation who said the evacuation followed an alarm at the headquarters and that employees were asked to work from home.

It is the first time Aramco has ordered staff out of its headquarters since the Iran war began. The company did not immediately respond to requests for comment, and neither report said how long the remote work order would last or what set off the alarm.

A headquarters that runs the oil system, and was hit this month

The Dhahran complex is more than an office park. It hosts an operations centre that helps the world's largest oil company oversee onshore and offshore rigs, refineries, export terminals and thousands of kilometres of pipelines, Reuters said.

The headquarters was struck earlier this month. On Tuesday, October 13, a missile hit an administrative building in the complex, damaging the top three floors of an office tower and starting a limited fire, the Saudi Energy Ministry said at the time. No one was killed or injured in that strike. Three people with direct knowledge told Reuters the fire spread across several floors.

Two deadly attacks on Wednesday

The evacuation came a day after two attacks killed four people in the east of the country. On Wednesday, October 21, two people died after Saudi air defences intercepted a drone that was trying to hit a facility at Aramco's Shaybah oil field, hundreds of kilometres southeast of Dhahran, the energy ministry said.

That evening, an attack on King Fahd International Airport in Dammam, about 15 kilometres (9 miles) north of Dhahran, killed two people and injured eight, Saudi Arabia's General Authority of Civil Aviation said on Thursday. The two people killed at the airport were a Saudi citizen and an Indian resident.

Claims, interceptions and a falling market

The Saudi led coalition said on Thursday that it had intercepted drones over Riyadh and over Medina. Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said in a televised speech that the group had launched attacks on Aramco facilities in the Red Sea city of Yanbu and on the Saudi defence ministry in Riyadh. Saudi authorities did not confirm those attacks.

Fighting between the Houthis and the Saudi led coalition has intensified since the Houthis pushed toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the shipping chokepoint at the mouth of the Red Sea. The renewed fighting in recent weeks ended a truce brokered by the United Nations in 2022 and opened another front in the United States and Israeli war on Iran. Bloomberg reported that the US State Department has ordered non-emergency personnel and their families to leave Saudi Arabia because of the growing threat from Houthi attacks.

Markets reacted on Thursday. Saudi Arabia's benchmark stock index fell 2.5 percent after the Aramco news, according to LSEG data reported by Reuters, and oil prices rose to their highest since May on concern that an escalation could hit crude supplies from the world's key exporting region. Saudi Arabia says it has responded to the attacks with strikes on missile launcher sites and has intercepted many ballistic missiles fired by the group. The kingdom has been seeking wider support from allies for its campaign, and Washington has so far rebuffed Saudi efforts to bring it directly into the war against the Houthis, Reuters reported.