Saudi Aramco said its computer
systems had been shut down by a virus late on Wednesday, but it added that
production had not been affected, according to a report.
"An official source of Saudi Aramco
confirmed that it had isolated electronic systems for the entire company today
and cut off external access as an early precaution," Reuters quoted a
statement from the company as saying.
The world's biggest oil company said that
although the virus affected some computers, it did not penetrate key components
of the network, which it said would return to normal operating mode soon.
"The source ... reiterated the lack of any
effect at all on the work of production due to the strength of advanced
protection systems," the statement added.
Rumours had spread
among traders earlier on Wednesday that the state-owned company had been
subjected to a hacking attack.