The Energy Information Administration (EIA) is a statistical agency of the US Department of Energy. They provide policy-independent data, forecasts and analyses to promote sound policy making, efficient markets and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment.
The EIA website at www.eia.doe.gov contains a wealth of information on the international energy situation in general, supplemented by country and sector specific briefs. At the EIA home page, requesting energy information accessed by geography will bring up links to an OPEC brief, international energy statistics, an international energy outlook, energy security analyses and country analysis briefs.
The EIA report on Saudi Arabia discusses topics such as general background, natural gas and electricity. There is also an interesting archived report on environmental issues in the Kingdom relative to the energy situation. In the section on oil security in Saudi Arabia the report reads:
“In late April 2004, Aramco Chief Executive Abdullah Jumah said that ‘there is nowhere in the world that oil facilities are protected as well as in Saudi Arabia.’ According to Jumah, Aramco employs 5,000 security guards to protect oil facilities. In addition, the Saudi National Guard, regular Saudi military forces and Interior Ministry officers are tasked with protecting oilfields, pipelines (the country has around 10,000 miles), ports (Ras Tanura, Al Juaymah, Yanbu), refineries, and other oil facilities (gathering centers, gas-oil separation plants, etc.). In May 2004, Nawaf Obaid, an adviser to the Saudi royal family, said that the Saudi government had added $750 million to its security budget over the past two years to beef up security in the oil sector. According to Obaid, the Saudis spent $5.5 billion in 2003 on oil security.”