An explosion on 1 March destroyed a petroleum pipeline in al-Awamiyah that leads to a major pipeline running from Abqaiq to Ras Tanura. Ministry of Interior spokesperson Mansour al-Turki stated, "There were no acts of sabotage in the kingdom [on 1 March]." "FXstreet" quoted part of a report on the event by "The Arab Digest". The Arab Digest report linked the would-be fire to the 2011–2012 Saudi Arabian protests, claimed that the fire occurred between al-Awamiyah and Safwa, and hyperlinked to blog photos of the would-be fire.