Saudi Aramco has instructed remaining staff to evacuate its headquarters in Dhahran as disruption deepens following weeks of Houthi attacks.
RIYADH: Saudi oil giant Aramco told remaining staff to evacuate from its headquarters on Thursday, two sources briefed on the matter told AFP, as disruption deepens in Saudi Arabia following weeks of Houthi attacks.
Non-essential staff had been working remotely since the headquarters in eastern Saudi Arabia was hit last week, three sources said, speaking anonymously for security reasons.
But now the remaining employees have also been told to work from home until further notice, two of the sources said.
“There was an evacuation order issued for these staff, no specific reason was given,” one of the sources said.
Residential areas in the sprawling complex in Dhahran were not closed or evacuated, both sources said.
They were speaking hours after a late-night attack on Dammam airport, also in Saudi’s east, killed two people and injured eight others.
Houthi attacks have caused widespread problems for Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, closing Riyadh’s airport for days and forcing the postponement of a major investment conference.
Last Wednesday, the Houthis said they targeted Aramco’s headquarters, a vast complex comprising numerous buildings and residential compounds. Saudi officials said a building was hit in the area housing Aramco’s operations centre.
Last week, two company employees who also spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity said a tower in the headquarters was struck. The “top three floors were gone”, one of them said.
AFP has not been granted access to the site and was not able to independently verify the damage.
Houthi attacks on Saudi civilian infrastructure, especially oil facilities and airports, have reached an unprecedented scale in recent weeks.
Twenty-two people have been killed in attacks on Saudi airports this month, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
On Thursday, Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted four drones in the areas of Riyadh and the holy city of Medina.
The Houthi attacks follow the collapse in July of a years-long truce in Yemen’s civil war, where the Iran-backed group is fighting the government supported by the Saudi-led coalition.
The Houthis declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia and began hitting its ships, territory and oil facilities, before launching a major offensive in September in which they seized Yemeni government-held territory along the Red Sea coast.
In response, the Saudi air force has frequently targeted areas under Houthi control, which include much of impoverished Yemen.