ARAMCO SKEPTICAL OF CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION

S E C R E T DHAHRAN 000145

NOFORN
SIPDIS

PLEASE PASS TO NEA/ARP JOSHUA HARRIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/17/2019
TAGS: PGOV EPET ENRG SA
SUBJECT: ARAMCO SKEPTICAL OF CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE PROTECTION
INITIATIVE

REF: DE RHEBAAA #2397 1281145

CLASSIFIED BY: Joseph Kenny, Consul General, EXEC, DOS.
REASON: 1.4 (b),(d)


1. KEY POINTS:

-- (S/NF) Saudi Aramco's Executive Management is skeptical of
the presence of Ministry of Interior (MOI) critical
infrastructure protection (CIP) forces near their oil and gas
facilities.

-- (S/NF) Aramco is currently undergoing a major upgrade to
their perimeter surveillance system, in what may be an attempt
to mitigate MOI encroachment on Aramco facilities.

-- (S/NF) Several key Aramco contacts confirm that the recent
resignation of the head of Aramco security was unrelated to the
CIP initiative.


2. COMMENT:

-- (S/NF) Saudi Aramco harbors deep reservations about MOI's
growing involvement in the protection of its facilities, which
Aramco deems unnecessary and ill-suited. Saudi Aramco is losing
ground in this domestic wrangling over CIP, but is directing its
rancor at the MOI, not the USG.

ARAMCO SKEPTICAL OF MOI-CIP INITIATIVE


3. (S/NF) Aramco's Executive Management team including the CEO,
Khalid al-Falih, is hesitant to permit MOI-CIP forces into their
oil and gas facilities. This fact was made abundantly clear in
a meeting that former Ambassador Fraker, the Consul General and
PolOff had with al-Falih several months ago. Aside from the
visibly uncomfortable gestures and eye contact he made with his
Senior VP for Industrial Relations when CIP was raised, al-Falih
noted that Aramco was very skeptical of the net benefit of
having Saudi soldiers around highly combustible and very
sensitive industrial facilities. He noted that after the
terrorist attack on Abqaiq in 2005, Saudi soldiers deployed to
protect the infrastructure were smoking cigarettes, driving
their vehicles perilously close to equipment, and interfering in
the operation of the oil facilities.


4. (S/NF) Al-Falih emphasized that Saudi Aramco is not happy
about MOI (irrespective of USG involvement) interfering with
their facilities and they believe that they are more than
capable of protecting their own assets without outside help. It
appears that Aramco has accepted the fact that MOI will
inevitably be encroaching on their turf and are now in the
process of mitigating this effect as much as possible. As
testament to this observation, they are in the final stages of
signing a contract for a $1 billion perimeter surveillance
system for all of their facilities across the kingdom. Northrop
Grumman has been awarded the contract (close hold),though
Aramco has not yet officially made the announcement. In
addition, according to our sources in Aramco Affairs, the new
Executive Director of Safety and Industrial Security, Mohammed
al-Zahrani, was selected because of his knowledge of operations
and facilities, not his security credentials. His most recent
position was manager of the critical office of Oil Supply,
Planning and Scheduling (OSPAS).


5. (S/NF) According to a cable from the Department of Energy
(ref A),Samir Raslan, General Manager for Industrial Security
at Aramco, was forced to resign by Aramco management. However,
a number of post contacts at Aramco insist that Samir quit and
was not fired or forced to resign. In fact, before submitting
his resignation Raslan made it clear to his subordinates and to
post that if he did not receive a promotion to Executive
Director of Safety and Industrial Security he would move on from
Aramco. When the position was given to al-Zahrani, he submitted
his resignation.

KENNY