Saudi Arabia's 7mn b/d East-West crude pipeline has been shut down following attacks by Yemen's Houthis, stopping flows on what has been a key conduit for oil out of the Mideast Gulf region since the start of the US-Iran war.
The pipeline, which moves crude from Saudi fields near the Mideast Gulf to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, was subject to multiple attacks on the morning of 10 September, according to the Saudi energy ministry. The pipeline was shut down as a precautionary measure, while several people have been injured by the attacks.
Emergency and technical teams are responding to the attacks, according to the ministry.
Following the late February breakout of war between the US and Iran and the defacto closure of the strait of Hormuz by Iran, Saudi Arabia quickly diverted crude through the East-West pipeline. While the line could not replace all the volumes that moved through the strait before the war, it helped relieve pressure on global crude markets.
The viability of crude flows throug the pipeline and Yanbu has been undermined by a series of Houthi attacks on Saudi facilities since mid-July. Houthis captured the Red Sea port city of Mocha on Friday, bringing the group closer to the Bab el-Mandeb strait, a key outlet for Saudi oil exports to Asia.
