Saudi Arabia has shut its 1,200km East-West oil pipeline after multiple attacks launched from Iraqi territory struck facilities in the Riyadh and Medina regions, injuring several people and threatening a key route for crude exports.
The attacks, believed to have been carried out by drones, targeted pumping stations along the pipeline on Thursday morning. Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy said the line had been stopped as a precaution.
An official told state media: “The East-West pipeline in the Riyadh and Medina regions was subjected to several attacks on Thursday morning. The pipeline was stopped as a precaution, and the attacks resulted in some injuries.”
The pipeline can carry up to seven million barrels of crude a day and has been used by the world’s biggest oil exporter to bypass restrictions affecting shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.
Satellite images appeared to show extensive fire damage at one pumping station, with another image showing smoke rising from a separate site. Iraq has condemned the attack, while its prime minister ordered an investigation into those responsible, according to a statement from the country’s armed forces.
Brent crude settled at 104.56 dollars a barrel on Friday after rising by more than 8 per cent during the week. Average US diesel prices also exceeded six dollars a gallon for the first time, while oil prices rose sharply after news of the strikes emerged on Thursday.
Saudi Arabia oil pipeline attack follows Houthi advance
The East-West pipeline has been targeted before, including in April, although operations were restored quickly by Saudi Aramco, the kingdom’s national oil company.
The latest assault came as Iran-backed Houthi rebels claimed control of Yemen’s Red Sea coastline and the Yemeni side of the Bab al-Mandab Strait, a strategic gateway linking the Red Sea with the Gulf of Aden and the Suez Canal.
Yemeni government officials said the Houthis had seized the Bab al-Mandab area and Mayyun Island following a week-long offensive that has killed more than 500 people, according to sources on both sides. The UN migration agency said about 46,000 people had been displaced.
A government military official said the group had also taken Greater and Lesser Hanish, the remaining islands in the narrow waterway outside its control. A witness reported seeing gunmen deployed along the shore and travelling in military vehicles.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said the operation began on September 3 in response to what he called Saudi Arabia’s “blatant aggression” against the Yemeni people. He later said navigation through the Bab al-Mandab was “safe” for everyone except Saudi Arabia.
The seizure of Mayyun Island, which lies in the middle of the strait, could increase the Houthis’ ability to target Saudi tankers. The group has already been attacking the vessels since July, according to the material.
Mohammad Mokhber, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, congratulated the Houthis on what he described as their “resounding victory”. Farea Al-Muslimi, a research fellow at Chatham House, said Iran now controlled both the Strait of Hormuz and the other “most strategic chokepoint in the Middle East”.
Saudi Arabia has responded with airstrikes and ordered troop reinforcements from Aden, where Yemen’s internationally recognised government is based. Houthi media said Saudi strikes hit Mocha airport, while a local official reported that the city’s seaport was struck by six missiles of unknown origin.
The renewed fighting risks reviving Yemen’s civil war, which began after the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, in 2014. The group fought a Saudi-led coalition from 2015 until a UN-brokered ceasefire in 2022.
The UN Security Council discussed the conflict on Thursday. UN envoy Hans Grundberg called for members to work actively to contain what he warned could become a more dangerous conflict.
