ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan telephoned Saudi Crown Prince and Defence Minister Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz and discussed bilateral and regional matters with special focus on drone attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities last week.
During the telephone conversation, the premier offered Pakistan’s full support and capabilities to the kingdom following the attack.
Prices of petroleum products are likely to go up by up to Rs12 in coming days owing to an increase in the international market following an attack on Saudi Arabia’s energy giant Aramco last week, slashing the Arab kingdom’s oil production by half.
The attack that shut five per cent of global crude output has triggered the biggest surge in oil prices since 1991.
Europe’s benchmark Brent crude surged by 20 per cent and US counterpart WTI by 15 per cent as commodities trading got underway and after President Donald Trump warned that the US was “locked and loaded” to respond to the attacks that Washington blamed on Iran.
Tehran rejected the claim but Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition was bogged down in a five-year war, claimed Saturday’s strikes on two plants owned by Aramco.
Meanwhile, the United States reiterated it was studying all available options in how it would confront an attack on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities.
In the call to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper affirmed Washington’s full support for Saudi Arabia following the attacks.