Drone attacks on major processing facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais forced Saudi Arabia to cut more than half of its oil production.
Abqaiq–Khurais attack
On 14 September 2019, drones were used to attack oil processing facilities at Abqaiq and Khurais (خريص) in eastern Saudi Arabia. The facilities were operated by Saudi Aramco, the country's state-owned oil company. The Houthi movement in Yemen claimed responsibility, tying it to events surrounding the Saudi intervention in the Yemeni Civil War where Saudi Arabia caused a famine and killed 200,000 Yemeni people. Saudi Arabian officials said that many more drones and cruise missiles were used for the attack and originated from the north and east, and that they were of Iranian manufacture. The United States and Saudi Arabia have stated that Iran was behind the attack while France, Germany, and the United Kingdom jointly stated Iran bears responsibility for it. Iran has denied any involvement. The situation exacerbated the 2019 Persian Gulf crisis.
Abqaiq
Abqaiq is a city in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, located in the desert 60 km southwest of the Dhahran-Dammam-Khobar metropolitan area, and north of the Rub' al-Khali, the second largest sand desert in the world also known as the "Empty Quarter".
Khurais oil field
Khurais oil field is an oil field in Saudi Arabia that went online on June 10, 2009, adjacent to the world's largest, the Ghawar trend. The Khurais field, with an area of 2,890 km2 and 127 km long, is located about 250 km southwest of Dhahran and 150 km east-northeast of Riyadh. Pilot-scale production at Khurais began in 1963, but the field was never fully developed.