Saudi Arabia has temporarily shut down its strategic East-West Pipeline after drone attacks damaged facilities in the Riyadh and Medina regions, dealing a fresh blow to the Middle East's oil export system.
The pipeline can carry roughly 7 million barrels of oil a day from eastern Saudi Arabia to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, allowing crude to reach tankers without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. With shipping through Hormuz already sharply reduced, the pipeline had become one of the kingdom's most important alternative routes for keeping its oil exports flowing and loading tankers in the Red Sea.
According to a statement from Saudi Arabia's Ministry of Energy, carried by the state news agency SPA, operation of the East-West Pipeline was suspended after multiple attacks on its installations in the Riyadh and Medina areas. Riyadh later said the drones used in the attacks had been launched from Iraq.
Precautionary shutdown, no timeline given
Saudi authorities described the shutdown as a precautionary measure, and no timeline has been given for the pipeline to resume operations. The attacks caused injuries, and technical crews are carrying out inspections to assess the condition and safety of the facilities.
The East-West Pipeline is strategically important because of its geography. It carries oil from production areas in the east of the country, crosses Saudi territory and ends at Yanbu on the Red Sea coast, letting crude be loaded onto tankers without moving through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz.
The importance of this route grew sharply after the major disruption at Hormuz. According to figures reported by the Associated Press, exports through Yanbu had exceeded 5 million barrels a day in early June, reflecting the central role the kingdom's western export route had taken on.
Pressure spreads to the Red Sea route
Now that pressure is shifting to this route as well. For as long as the pipeline remains shut, it limits the amount of crude that can be piped to Yanbu and, as a result, the number of cargoes available for tankers in the Red Sea. At the same time, redirecting larger volumes back toward the Gulf's export terminals runs into the major obstacle of Hormuz.
The situation has grown more complicated following recent developments at the Bab el-Mandeb strait, where advances by Houthi forces and their seizure of the strategic island of Perim have deepened uncertainty around another critical maritime gateway.
What it means for tanker markets
For the tanker market, the key question now is how long the shutdown lasts. A quick restart of the East-West Pipeline would limit the impact. A prolonged suspension, on the other hand, could reduce the cargoes available from Yanbu and trigger a fresh reshuffling of trade flows and demand for tonnage.
In practice, Saudi oil now faces an unprecedented set of constraints: Hormuz under pressure in the east, Bab el-Mandeb under pressure in the west, and now the East-West Pipeline, the land bridge between the two maritime fronts, temporarily out of operation.
The security of an infrastructure that had until now served as an escape valve from the Hormuz crisis has itself become a new source of uncertainty for global oil flows and the international shipping market.
