Suicide bombers reportedly tried to take out a major oil facility in Saudi Arabia this morning:

A Saudi oil official said an explosion rocked a major oil processing facility Friday in eastern Saudi Arabia. An Arab satellite television station reported that one pipeline was damaged in an attack by suicide bombers in two explosives-packed cars. One vehicle detonated when guards opened fire as it attempted to drive through the facility’s gates, according to the Saudi-owned channel Al-Arabiya, which did not give a source for the report.

Al-Arabiya said that oil briefly stopped flowing through the facility after the attack but has resumed.

It was the first attack on an oil facility in the kingdom in recent memory, although oil company offices previously have been attacked. Crude-oil futures soared nearly $2 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, to $62.51 a barrel. A second vehicle was stopped and two people inside it were killed, Al-Arabiya said. None of the guards were hurt, it said.The attackers’ cars bore the logo of Aramco, the state oil company that owns the facility, Al-Arabiya said.

The Counterterrorism Blog has all the latest, with lots of links to expert commentary.

Army intel officer Charlie Munn at The Officer’s Club analyzes the attack.

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Flashback Feb 11, 2006: Penn. Man Named In Alleged Terror Plot

Federal agents contend that a Pennsylvania man tried to work with al Qaeda in a plot to blow up the Alaska pipeline, another pipeline in Pennsylvania and a refinery in New Jersey, according to a published report.

Michael Curtis Reynolds, 47, has not officially been charged with terrorism, but a prosecutor at a hearing said that Reynolds tried to “provide material aid to al Qaeda” and that the case “involves a federal offense of terrorism,” The Philadelphia Inquirer reported in its Sunday editions.

Flashback December 2004: Al Qa’eda terrorists ‘plan to turn tanker into a floating bomb’

Fanatics from the Islamic terror faction blamed for last week’s suicide attack on the Australian embassy in Indonesia are planning to hijack an oil tanker or freighter and turn it into a floating bomb, The Telegraph has learned.

United States intelligence has passed on warnings about the plot to launch an attack in the region’s busy shipping lanes to several countries, including Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. They acted after intercepting communications between activists from Jemaah Islamiah (JI), a network linked to al Qa’eda.

The terrorists have been discussing plans to seize a vessel using local pirates. The hijacked ship would be wired with explosives and then directed at other vessels, sailed towards a port or used to threaten the narrow and congested sea routes around Indonesia.

Flashback June 2004: Al Qaeda targets US oil supplies

JEDDAH, SAUDI ARABIA – In two deadly attacks here in the past month, analysts see Al Qaeda-linked groups adopting new tactics and targets - encouraging self-organizing cells to hit soft targets in an effort to drive away Western oil workers, damage the Saudi petroleum industry, and slow the US economy.

Despite the weekend attack in Saudi Arabia’s oil-rich eastern province in which 22 people were killed, oil operations continued uninterrupted Monday amid heightened security…

…A statement posted on the Internet and signed by the Saudi Al Qaeda leader, Abdul-Aziz al-Miqrin, claimed responsibility for the Khobar attack.

“Our heroic fighters were able, by the grace of God, to raid the locations of the occupying American oil companies … which are plundering the Muslims’ resources,” it said. Mr. Miqrin also criticized the Saudi government for “supplying the United States with oil for the cheapest prices, according to their master’s wish, so that their economy does not collapse.” A Westerner killed during the operation was dragged though the streets, the statement said.

In a 25-hour standoff with police Saturday in Khobar, a group of armed men attacked an office building housing major oil companies, an Arab Petroleum Investment Corporation compound, and a compound housing oil company executives and employees. The militants killed four Saudis, an American, and workers from Asia, Africa, and Europe before three of them escaped and one was captured.

The attack in Khobar was an attempt to create another exodus of foreign workers, like the one following the Yanbu attack May 1. A group of armed young men entered the offices of ABB Lummus killing six Westerners and a Saudi. All 90 employees working on a refinery project jointly-owned by Saudi petrochemical firm Sabic and Exxon-Mobil chose to leave the country with their families.

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