Saudi Arabia shut down its East-West Pipeline on Friday, 11 September, after attacks the previous day struck facilities along its route through the Riyadh and Madinah regions, according to the kingdom’s Ministry of Energy. Several people were injured and received medical treatment, the ministry said, and emergency and technical teams were deployed to secure the pipeline and assess the damage.
The pipeline, which runs from Saudi Arabia’s eastern oil fields near Abqaiq to the export terminal at Yanbu on the Red Sea, has a stated capacity of about 7 million barrels per day. It had become Riyadh’s principal alternative for getting crude to international markets after the Strait of Hormuz, the world’s busiest oil chokepoint, was effectively closed amid the wider US-Iran war.
Pump stations, not the pipeline, appear to be the target
An early US analysis found that pump stations located next to the pipeline were struck, rather than the pipeline itself, according to reporting cited by CNN and CNBC. Satellite imagery detected multiple large fires along the route, including a smoke plume stretching roughly 60 miles south of Medina.
The pipeline was previously attacked in April 2026 but was subsequently restored to its full pumping capacity. Saudi Aramco’s chief executive, Amin Nasser, said in August that the pipeline had done more to cushion the kingdom’s oil supply disruptions than releases from emergency crude reserves, underscoring how central the route has become to Saudi exports since the Hormuz closure.
A second chokepoint under threat
The pipeline shutdown coincided with reports that Houthi forces in Yemen had captured Perim Island, a strategic position near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the narrow waterway at the southern end of the Red Sea that ships must pass through en route to the Suez Canal. That advance threatens the very corridor the East-West Pipeline was meant to feed.
Maritime navigation is safe for all companies except for Saudi vessels.
In a statement reported by NBC News, Houthi forces said they would continue targeting Saudi assets “until the aggression stops and the blockade against our dear people is lifted.” Iran’s Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, called for an end to Saudi Arabia’s blockade of Houthi-held areas and urged a return to negotiations between Riyadh and the Houthi movement.
Riyadh still desperately wants to avoid another 2015-style war. But its room for restraint is narrowing.
That assessment, from a regional analyst cited by NBC News, reflects growing concern that Saudi Arabia’s options for containing the conflict without direct military escalation are shrinking, particularly as its two main non-Hormuz export routes now both face disruption.
Oil prices climb toward multi-year highs
Brent crude rose above $100 a barrel this week and briefly touched around $108, according to Gulf News and NPR, as the attacks compounded fears over supply. The move follows a Houthi maritime embargo declared against Saudi Arabia in July and a Houthi strike on Aramco installations on 8 September that injured about 73 people.
Goldman Sachs has raised its Brent forecast by $5 to $85 a barrel for December 2026, and warned prices could climb past $120 in 2027 if crude supply disruptions continue to worsen. For European economies, which rely heavily on Middle Eastern crude and refined products shipped via the Suez and Red Sea route, a prolonged closure of either chokepoint would likely feed through to higher fuel and energy costs heading into winter.
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