ARAB-US RELATIONS - Oct 27 - US-Led Forces Move To Defend Saudi Oil Terminal.

US-led coalition naval forces move into Saudi Arabia's port of Ras Tanura to ward off a possible terror attack against the world's biggest oil export facility. A statement from the combined naval taskforce said: Acting on information received, coalition naval forces operating in support of Saudi and Bahraini forces have deployed units to counter a possible maritime threat to the oil facilities at Ras Tanura". UK, US and Saudi officials downplayed the event, calling it routine and saying they were not responding to a specific threat. Nevertheless, captains of tankers travelling to and from the port said it was the first time in peace time they had been warned by commanders to keep watch and respond to any instructions. Oil prices moved slightly higher on the news and later retraced those gains. West Texas Intermediate oil futures traded within the range of $59.85 to $60.85 a barrel, while ICE Brent futures in London fluctuated just above $60 a barrel. A UK Foreign Office spokesman said overall threat levels in the region had not changed. He said there was no question of oil exports from the terminal being affected. A UK defence official said: No UK naval assets are involved in this routine movement of ships". Sean McCormack, spokesman for the US Department of State, said on Friday: We have excellent counterterrorism co-operation with Saudi Arabia and we, of course, would do whatever we could if there was a request from the Saudi -government for assistance in countering a terrorist threat". He added that al-Qaeda had recently reiterated its calls for attacks on Saudi oil facilities. "This would, of course, be of concern to the Saudi government. There have been threats in the past against their oil facilities". The deployment at the Ras Tanura terminal, which handles enough oil each day to satisfy 8% of the world consumption, comes amid concern among western security officials that al-Qaeda could target oil installations from the sea, having failed in February to make much of an impact during a foiled attack by land on the country's Abqaiq oil processing plant. Saudi Arabia's oil facilities are the most heavily guarded in the world. Al-Qaeda has repeatedly threatened over the past two years to target oil facilities in the Gulf, most recently in a broadcast by Ayman al-Zawahiri, the group's chief ideologue, on September 11. Last month, Yemeni security forces foiled two terrorist attacks on an oil storage facility in the south of the country and at a refinery at Ma'ared. Coalition forces have also deployed to guard Bahrain's Bapco refinery.