Vulnerability Assessment & Security for Aramco's Oil Plants

This presentation focuses on the vulnerability assessment and security countermeasures for Saudi Aramco's oil plants. It begins with an overview of Aramco and highlights a significant attack on its facilities in 2019, emphasizing the critical need for enhanced security. The presentation explores various vulnerability assessment techniques, including Security Risk Assessment (SRA), Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Attack Tree, and Bayesian Networks. It details the development of attack scenarios and the application of a Dynamic Temporal Bayesian Network (DTBN) to predict potential terrorist attacks. The presentation also covers potential countermeasures, including those related to HAZMAT, and concludes with the importance of preparedness for future attacks. References to relevant literature are also included.

VULNERABILITY
ASSESSMENT & SECURITY
COUNTERMEASURES FOR
ARAMCO’S OIL PLANTS IN
SAUDI ARABIA

INTRODUCTION
• THIS PRESENTATION WILL
DISCUSS VULNERABILITY
ASSESSMENT &
COUNTERMEASURES FOR
ARAMCO’S OIL PLANTS TO BE
CONDUCTED IN ORDER TO
PREVENT, REDUCE, OR
MITIGATE FUTURE RISKS.

ARAMCO OVERVIEW
• LARGEST OIL PRODUCING COMPANY IN THE
SAUDI ARABIA
• PRODUCER, MARKETER, MANUFACTURER AND
REFINER OF CRUDE OIL AND OTHER
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
• ON 14 SEPTEMBER 2019, DRONES WERE USED
TO ATTACK THE STATE-OWNED SAUDI ARAMCO
OIL PROCESSING FACILITIES AT ABQAIQ AND
KHURAIS IN EASTERN SAUDI ARABIA.

LITERATURE
• IT HAS BEEN PRODUCING MORE
THAN 22 MILLION BARRELS OF OIL
DAILY FROM THESE REGIONS.
• IN DECEMBER 2006, THE FINANCIAL
TIMES TITLED ARAMCO AS THE
WORLD’D BIGGEST COMPANY.
• THE ESTIMATED WORTH OF
ARAMCO HAS BEEN CLOSE TO $781
BILLION MARKET CAPITALIZATION.

CONTD..
• ARAMCO HAS BEEN ACQUIRED WITH CAPABILITY
AND RECOGNIZED FOR ITS EFFORTS IN THE
AMERICAN SOCIETY OF INDUSTRIAL SECURITY IN
2010.
• IN THE EARLY HOURS OF SEPTEMBER 14, SAUDI
ARABIA HAS SUFFERED THE DEADLIEST ATTACK
ON ITS OIL FACILITIES IN RECENT TIMES WHEN A
SMALL ARMY OF DRONES ATTACKED TWO
MAJOR OIL PLANTS, WHICH DESTROYED NEARLY
50 PERCENT OF THE COUNTRY’S GLOBAL SUPPLY
OF CRUDE.

VULNERABILITY OF OIL SOURCES
• SECURITY OF CHEMICAL AND OIL
AND GAS FACILITIES HAVE BEEN
A CRITICAL ISSUE DEVELOPING
IN THE GULF COUNTRIES
INCLUDING SAUDI ARABIA.
• THE SECURITY RISK OF THE
PIPELINE HAVE BEEN MORE
CRITICAL THAN THESE FIXED
PLANTS AS PIPELINES RUNS
THOUSANDS OF KILOMETERS
THROUGH DIFFERENT
POPULATION DENSITY AREAS.

SECURITY ASSESSMENT RISK
ASSESSMENT
• THE PURPOSE OF CONDUCTING
THE SRA HAS BEEN GAINING A
BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF
THE ASSETS BEING PROTECTED
FOR IDENTIFYING AND
EVALUATING SECURITY RISKS IN
THE INDUSTRY (SIMON, 2017).

FAULT TREE ANALYSIS
• FAULT TREE ANALYSIS (FT) HAS BEEN A CONVENTIONAL METHOD IN SAFETY
RISK ANALYSIS INVESTIGATING RISKS WHICH ARE RELATED TO SAFETY RISK
ANALYSIS INVESTIGATING RISK WHICH ARE BASED ON SAFETY EVENTS BOTH
QUALITATIVE AND QUANTITATIVELY.

ATTACK TREE

BAYESIAN NETWORK
• A BAYESIAN NETWORK HAS
BEEN DIRECTED ACYCLIC
GRAPH G TO FACTORIZE A
JOINT PROBABILITY
DISTRIBUTION P THAT
TOGETHER SATISFYING
MARKOV CONDITION.

VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT
• DEVELOPING AN ATTACK SCENARIO IN FORM OF DAT
• MAP THE DAT RO THE DTBN
• CALCULATING MARGINAL PROBABILITIES AS INPUT OF PARENT NODES IN THE
DTBN
• DEVELOPING CONDITIONAL PROBABILITY TABLES RELATED TO LOGIC GATES
IN THE ATTACK TREES
• RUN THE DTBN USING VALUES OBTAINED

• THE SEGMENT IN RURAL AREA; B) THE COMPRESSION STATION