The Shaybah oil field in eastern Saudi Arabia was attacked by a terrorist drone on Saturday morning. The oil field, about 10 kilometers from the southern border of the UAE, embodies a high reality on the sands of the Rub al-Khali desert, a hard-to-reach area isolated by its towering sand dunes from the world, with little or no chance of life.
However, the Shaybah oil field project dispelled that view and proved otherwise. Moreover, it created a wonderful harmony between the contradiction of the simplicity of Bedouin and the nature of the desert, and the momentum of complex industrial and technical progress, drawing a beautiful bright painting worthy of its progress.
Saudi Aramco began pumping oil from Shaybah oil field in 1998, for the first time.
The Shaybah oil field region is one of the richest areas in the world because it contains many natural resources, according to Dr. Abdulaziz bin Labon, a former oil consultant in Aramco and professor of geology at King Saud University, in an earlier statement to (Al-arabiya.net), identifying its location in the spot between Wadi Al-Sahba and Wadi Al-Rumah, south of Al-Batha border crossing; between the two valleys, there are more than 100 oil and gas fields located in a number of Gulf countries, most of them in Saudi Arabia, making the valleys the richest in the world.
In 2003, Saudi Arabia provided the international companies with investment opportunities to explore and exploit the non-associated gas in the Empty Quarter. The production capacity of the central production plant at Shaybah oil field is 750,000 bpd.
The Shaybah oil field can pump 1.3 million bpd for 70 years, according to Saudi Arabia's standards, the world's largest oil exporter.
Shaybah is a medium-sized field compared to the giant Ghawar oil field in Al-Ahsa Governorate, which pumps millions of barrels a day.
The Shaybah region is served by Shaybah Airport, a small airport used by Saudi Aramco to fly its employees to Dammam and Al-Ahsa.
All employees, working in the Shaybah oil field, don't deny the difficulty of coexistence in the desert, away from their homes, families, relatives, and friends, but the will, determination, and challenge along with the services available in this giant city, which is a pride for every citizen has overcome these difficulties and the harsh climatic conditions in The largest connected sandy desert in the world.
Saudi Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources, Khalid Al-Falih said that the terrorist attack on one of the units of the natural gas plant in the Shaybah oil field "has caused limited damage and will not affect the Kingdom's production and exports of oil".
