Updates with changes throughout
State-owned Saudi Aramco has shut down its 7mn b/d East-West crude pipeline, Saudi Arabia's primary conduit for exporting crude since the start of the US-Iran war, following drone attacks originating in Iraq, Riyadh said on Friday.
The pipeline, which moves crude from Saudi fields near the Mideast Gulf to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, came under multiple attacks on Thursday morning, according to the Saudi energy ministry. Saudi Aramco shut down the pipeline as a precautionary measure, while several people have been injured by the attacks.
The attacks likely targeted pumping stations that facilitate the flow of oil in the pipeline. Riyadh did not provide details of damage or a timeline for restoring the pipeline's operations.
The Saudi foreign ministry said the attacks originated in Iraq. Riyadh in July had blamed Iran-backed groups in Iraq for drone attacks on oil fields in its eastern and central regions. Saudi Arabia then carried out retaliatory air strikes against Iran-affiliated Iraqi militia installations in Iraq.
But Riyadh on Friday clarified that — at Baghdad's request — it is not planning retaliatory attacks on Iraqi soil. Iraq's central government confirmed that the attack originated in Iraq, condemned the unnamed perpetrators and vowed to investigate the attack and to take "legal measures against anyone proven to be involved".
A September 2019 drone attack on Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq processing facility also originated in Iraq.
In the wake of the US-Israeli attack on Iran on 28 February and the de facto 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 has helped relieve pressure on global crude markets.
A pumping station at the terminus of the pipeline on the Red Sea coast came under direct Iranian missile attack in April, reducing the throughput capacity.
The Saudis repaired that damage. But since mid-July, Houthi militants in Yemen have conducted their own attacks. 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.
