From al Qaeda's terror playbook

From The Washington Times

The terrorists hope additional attacks on foreign workers will eventually scare them away, creating a vacuum in the oil industry. Such actions will force the Saudi oil companies to start hiring domestic workers, as is already happening.

The "danger" in hiring local workers is that among the hundreds, or maybe even thousands, of new recruits to fill various posts vacated by departing foreigners, you can bet your bottom petro-dollar a few — and most likely more than a few — will be faithful followers of al Qaeda.

These will infiltrate the oil installations, management offices, pipeline control centers and every aspect from drilling to shipment in the main oil centers such as Khobar, Ras Tanura and Abqaiq. This will put the sensitive oil infrastructures within the reach of al Qaeda and its affiliates.

Their next step could involve one of the following two scenarios, both of which would be detrimental to the Saudi state. In the first scenario, the terrorists could seriously undermine the infrastructure, hampering the flow of oil.

To take a page from Robert Baer's book, "Sleeping with the Devil," where Islamist terrorists sabotage the oil installations, this situation could now become all too real.
Mr. Baer, a former CIA Middle East operative, describes a hypothetical situation in which Islamist fundamentalist terrorists sabotage eastern Saudi Arabia's oil facilities, severely hindering the flow of oil to the West. Although imaginary, the scenario is no less worrisome and the threat now very real.

The second scenario could involve terrorists infiltrating the oil production and distribution process in key jobs where they could control, or possibly interrupt, the flow at a predetermined moment. This would allow them to be in a position to take over the system once they felt the time was right.

Either way, there is clear and present danger to Saudi Arabia's oil industry, the world's largest source of oil and the kingdom's main source of revenue.

[...]

"Riyadh's ability and the loyalty of its security services, to break up the terror network now operating in Saudi territory is questionable," say the Gohel brothers.

"Bizarrely, the Saudi Arabian government announced that the current three terrorists still on the loose after the Khobar attack are part of the last terrorist cell in the country. Lessons seem not [to] be learned," conclude the Gohels