Jeddah (Saudi Arabia) (AFP)

The Saudi energy minister said Tuesday he was reassuring about his country's ability to recover quickly from the attack that halved oil production, while avoiding pointing an accusing finger at Iran.

"I have good news for you (...) the supply of oil to international markets has returned to its pre-attack level," Prince Abdel Aziz bin Salman told a press conference in Jeddah, the big port city of western Saudi Arabia.

"In the last two days, we have recovered half of the lost production," he added, ensuring that Saudi production will be fully restored by the end of September.

The country will reach at that date a production capacity of 11 million barrels per day and 12 million barrels per day by the end of November, he assured.

The oil market, very attentive to any Saudi reaction, quickly reacted to Ryad's claims.

After flaming on Monday, the price of New York crude fell sharply Tuesday night after the remarks of the minister.

WTI barrel for October delivery, the US crude benchmark, fell 3.56 dollars, or 5.7 percent, to finish at 59.34 dollars, while Brent crude for delivery in November, quoted in November. London, fell $ 4.47, or 6.5 percent, to $ 64.55.

Some experts doubt, however, that Ryad can restore its production as quickly.

"Restoring a sustainable production capacity to 11 million barrels a day by the end of the month is an ambitious goal, given the number of repairs needed," Alex Schindelar, chairman of the Energy Intelligence group, told AFP.

- Investigation -

On Saturday, Houthi rebels in Yemen claimed drone attacks on the Abqaiq plant, the world's largest oil processing plant, and the Khurais oilfield - two sites in eastern Arabia Saudi Arabia, causing the reduction of Saudi production by 5.7 million barrels per day, or 6% of world production.

If the US administration has accused Iran of being responsible for these attacks, Prince Abdel Aziz bin Salman said that Ryad "does not know who is behind" these actions.

The kingdom is waiting to gather "evidence according to international standards" before deciding, according to the prince.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia claimed that "the weapons used in the attack were Iranian", according to preliminary evidence from its own investigation. Tehran vehemently denied any involvement.

Meeting on Tuesday under the chairmanship of King Salman, the Saudi Council of Ministers condemned the attacks and assured that the kingdom "will defend its territory and its vital facilities" against these actions intended to "disrupt the global supply" of oil.

Arabia "is able to respond (to attacks) from wherever they come," the Council said in a statement, calling on the international community to "stronger positions to stop these attacks."

The events also woke up the fear of military escalation between Iran and the United States. US Chief of Diplomacy Mike Pompeo is due to fly to Saudi Arabia on Tuesday to discuss the US "response" to the attacks, according to US Vice President Mike Pence.

- Aramco -

Before Saturday's attacks, Saudi Arabia pumped 9.9 million barrels a day, of which 7 million were exported, mainly to Asian countries.

According to Amin Nasser, CEO of the Saudi oil giant Aramco, ten fires on the attacked sites were extinguished within seven hours.

"Regarding the restoration of production, there is no company in the world that can do this in a few days," he said at a press conference, describing his company as "great" .

The IPO of Aramco "will continue as planned" and will take place over the next 12 months, assured the chairman of its board, Yassir al-Rumayyan, present at the same point-press.

"We are not going to stop anything," he said.

© 2019 AFP