Satellite photos show scale of destruction at Saudi oil field hit by drone attacks which put global markets in chaos

AP/Business Insider

A composite image of two satellite photographs which show areas of Saudi oil facilities in Abqaiq and Khurais.

• Satellite images show widespread destruction at a Saudi Aramco oil plant ravaged by a series of drone strikes on Saturday.
• The strike affected 5% of the world's oil supply, and sent global markets into chaos, with oil prices spiking 20% on Monday.
• The top image shows the location of attacks inside the Abqaiq processing plant, while the second and third images show damage from strikes on the nearby Khurais oil field.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

New satellite images show the scale of destruction at a vital Saudi oil facility after a series of drone attacks on Saturday.

The images, provided by the US government to the Associated Press (AP), show 17 impact sites at Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq oil plant and two at the Khurais oil field on Sunday.

The satellite image below shows the "stabilization area" of the Abqaiq facility. The area is where oil pumped out of the ground is treated in order to make it safe to move around the world via tanker ship.

Red boxes show five different areas hit in the attack, which the US believes involved 17 individual strikes.

AP

This image, provided on Sunday by the US government and DigitalGlobe, shows damage to the infrastructure at Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq oil processing facility in Buqyaq, Saudi Arabia.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies told the AP the stabilization area is full of "storage tanks and processing and compressor trains - which greatly increases the likelihood of a strike successfully disrupting or destroying its operations."

This second image shows a second area which was hit. It shows the Khurais oil field, which is 61 miles west of the Abqaiq facility.

U.S. government/Digital Globe via AP

This image provided on Sunday by the US government and DigitalGlobe and annotated by the source, shows damage to the infrastructure at Saudi Aramco's Khurais oil field in Buqyaq, Saudi Arabia.

The below image is a zoomed-in view of one of the two destroyed buildings in the oil field. Scorch marks from the fire appear to be visible alongside the burned-out building.

Associated Press

This image provided on Sunday by the US government and DigitalGlobe, shows damage to the infrastructure at at Saudi Aramco's Khurais oil field in Buqyaq, Saudi Arabia.

Estimates suggest 5.7 million barrels of crude oil production per day have been affected, equating to more than 5% of the world's daily supply, the AP reported.

Oil prices on Monday spiked to their highest levels in six months, according to Reuters. Business Insider's Yusuf Khan reported that Brent Crude prices shot up 20% before settling to 8% above previous levels.