Aramco Orders Evacuation of Dhahran Headquarters; Saudi Index Falls 2.5% After News
Key Facts
Saudi Aramco asked employees to evacuate its headquarters in Dhahran and work remotely, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, in a move followed by losses in Saudi stocks on Thursday. The main Saudi index fell 2.5% following the company news, according to London Stock Exchange Group data cited by the agency. A source told Agence France-Presse that the evacuation instructions gave no specific reason, while the decision came after an attack on the headquarters the previous week. Aramco did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment on the evacuation and shift to remote work. Residential areas within the Dhahran compound remained open and were not covered by closure or evacuation orders, according to AFP sources.
Non-essential employees had been working remotely since the headquarters was attacked the previous week, according to sources who spoke to AFP. The latest instructions covered employees who had continued working at headquarters, asking them to work from home. On damage from the earlier attack, the Associated Press cited regional officials as saying the headquarters building's top 3 floors were damaged in the strike. The agency reported that the attack caused no casualties. In the official account of the incident, an official source at Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry confirmed that an administrative building belonging to the company in Dhahran, in the Eastern Province, had been targeted. The source said in a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency that the strike caused "a limited fire".
The headquarters evacuation comes amid renewed fighting in recent weeks, which Reuters said ended a truce brokered by the United Nations in 2022. That truce had largely halted cross-border attacks before fighting resumed recently. In the oil market, Brent crude spot prices averaged $114 a barrel in September, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration's Short-Term Energy Outlook. That represented an increase of $23 a barrel from the August average, according to the report. As part of its operational arrangements before the evacuation news, Aramco said in its second-quarter and first-half results statement that it continued to use the East-West pipeline to maintain flows through its network.
Aramco says on its investor relations page that it has more than 76,000 employees company-wide. On the financial front, the company reported adjusted net income of $33.4 billion for the second quarter of 2026 in its results statement. Adjusted net income for the first half of the same year was $67.2 billion, according to the statement. The next financial disclosure is scheduled for 3 November 2026, the date Aramco has set for announcing its third-quarter results. Until then, instructions to employees remaining at headquarters call for working from home "until further notice", according to sources who spoke to AFP.