Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman has explained why the Kingdom couldn't prevent the attack seen on its energy infrastructure last month in an interview on CBS' 60 minutes program.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman (MBS) has explained why the Kingdom couldn’t prevent the attack seen on its energy infrastructure last month in an interview on CBS’ 60 minutes program, which was published on CBS’ website on Sunday.

“Saudi Arabia is almost the size of a continent. It is bigger than all of Western Europe,” MBS told 60 minutes interviewer Norah O’Donnell.

“We have 360 degrees of threats. It’s challenging to cover all of this fully,” MBS added.

In the interview, the Saudi Crown Prince noted that the attack didn’t hit the heart of the Saudi energy industry, but rather the heart of the global energy industry.

“It disrupted 5.5 percent of the world’s energy needs. The needs of the U.S. and China and the whole world,” MBS stated.

Last month, Torbjorn Soltvedt, principal MENA analyst at Verisk Maplecroft, said the risk of further high-impact attacks against Saudi energy infrastructure is high.

“For Saudi Arabia, the bottom line is that the risk of further serious attacks will persist even if the situation does not escalate,” Soltvedt said in a report sent to Rigzone on September 19.

“Only a significant reduction in regional tensions or a neutralization of Iran’s asymmetrical capabilities can meaningfully reduce the threat level. Unfortunately, prospects for either are poor,” he added.

Bloomberg reported yesterday that Saudi Aramco has fully restored crude output following the attack. Saudi Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser had previously announced that the company’s production capacity would be fully restored by the end of September.

To see analyst reaction on the attack, click here. To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com