“Saudi Aramco” — the worldʼs largest oil producer and reserve company — is in talks with at least two Ukrainian companies to purchase interceptor drones that could help protect its oil fields from Iranian attacks.
This is reported by The Wall Street Journal, citing sources.
According to them, the Saudi Arabian company is trying to acquire such drones as soon as possible, ahead of even its own government and regional competitors, including Qatar.
So “Saudi Aramco” is in talks with Ukrainian companies “SkyFall” and “Wild Hornets”, which produce interceptor drones capable of shooting down other drones or exploding near them.
Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabian government is already holding separate talks with Ukraine about purchasing such drones. In addition, according to the WSJ source, Saudi officials have been in contact with the Ukrainian company “Phantom Defense”, which produces electronic warfare systems to suppress drone communications.
On March 10, the WSJ sources told the Wall Street Journal that Saudi Arabia intends to place a large order for Ukrainian-made air defense equipment: interceptor drones and electronic warfare equipment. The deal could be worth millions of dollars, but it has not yet been signed.
In recent days, energy infrastructure and oil fields in Saudi Arabia and other oil producers in the Persian Gulf have been repeatedly targeted by Iranian strikes. In particular, on Saturday, March 7, a drone, likely from Iran, attacked the Berri oil field.
At the same time, it is still unclear whether Ukrainian producers will have sufficient volumes of products for export and whether Kyiv will allow this, given that Ukraine continues to use drones to protect against Russian attacks.
Whatʼs happening in the Middle East?
On the morning of February 28, the United States and Israel launched attacks on Iran. These attacks killed Iranʼs Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and almost the entire military leadership of the country — about 40 key high-ranking officials.
Iran, in response to the US and Israeli attacks, has begun shelling US bases in Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and the UAE and firing missiles at Israel. Some Iranian drones and missiles have hit infrastructure and residential areas in Arab countries.
On March 2, an Iranian drone struck the largest oil refinery in Saudi Arabia. A fire broke out there, halting operations. Saudi Arabia has declared its readiness to strike Iranian oil facilities in response.
Amid the fighting in the Middle East, the United States asked Ukraine to help protect against Iranian "Shaheds”. At the same time, Zelensky said that Ukraine wanted to "quietly" trade with the countries of the region: receive missiles for Patriot in exchange for interceptor drones.
On March 10, it became known that Ukraine had sent three fully equipped counter-drone teams to the Middle East: to Qatar, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Ukraine also sent its drone experts to protect American bases in Jordan.
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