Satellite
images show extent of damage to major Saudi pipeline, amid global oil supply
fears
Saudis
yet to provide details about damage from drone attack to key east-west pipeline
to Red Sea that could affect 4% of global oil supply
Mark Saunokonoko and agencies
Mon 14
Sep 2026 03.44 BST
Saudi
Arabia will run out of oil stocks for export if it doesn’t restart a drone-damaged major pipeline to the Red Sea within days,
leading to the loss of up to 4% of global supply, Saudi oil buyers and traders
said.
Satellite
photos released on Sunday night appeared to show a pumping station on the key
1,200km (745-mile) Saudi east-west pipeline charred and badly damaged, after
drone attacks on Friday.
A further
decline in oil flow from Saudi Arabia, the world largest oil exporter, will
worsen the global supply crunch, which has
already pushed global fuel prices to record highs and spurred inflation around
the world.
The news
comes as Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi forces have launched attacks on targets in
Saudi Arabia and captured
the strategic island of Perim in the Bab al-Mandab strait, expanding their
control of the narrow waterway.
On
Sunday, the international oil benchmark, Brent crude, rose more than 3.4% to
$108 per barrel, a level not seen since May.
Since the
drone attacks forced the shutdown of the pipeline, Riyadh has yet to provide
full details about the extent of the damage or how long the route will stay
offline. The Saudis blamed
the attack on drones launched by militants in Iraq.
Sources
that spoke to Reuters gave varying estimates, with one saying the damage could
take up to six weeks to repair, while another said it could be fixed sooner
and could resume pumping partially while repairs are ongoing.
Saudi
Arabia’s government media office and energy ministry did not immediately
respond to requests for comment.
For the
past six months, the pipeline running through the desert across the Arabian
Peninsula has spared Saudi Arabia from the brunt of the impact of the wartime
shutdown of the strait of Hormuz that has crippled exports from its neighbours.
The
world’s biggest exporter has used the pipeline to reroute around 4m barrels per
day – about 4% of global supply – to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea.
But with
the pipeline out of service, Yanbu now has stocks to maintain exports for just
five to seven days, according to three industry sources familiar with Saudi
exports.
Saudi
Arabia also has stocks to supply customers for several days from Egypt’s ports
of Ain Sukhna on the Red Sea and Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean, a fourth
source said.
Stocks
are not full and will ultimately run out without the east-west pipeline
resuming operations, the four sources said.
Satellite
image released by Vantor of the damaged pumping station on Saudi Arabia’s
east-west pipeline. Photograph: Satellite image ©2026 Vantor/AFP/Getty Images
As the
price of oil price of climbed, hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough in the near
term faded when Oman’s foreign minister, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, posted late
Sunday that a regional meeting scheduled for Monday had been postponed “in the
interests of consensus”.
Iranian
officials had said they would attend that gathering with Gulf Arab states to
present an agreement with Oman on governing
shipping routes through the strait of Hormuz.
The
strait was free to transit before the war, but Iran now requires vessels to
obtain permission and is considering a mechanism to impose service fees.
The
disruptions to crude has driven up prices across refined derivatives such as
petrol and diesel. Diesel prices in the US hit a record on Friday, soaring past
$6 a gallon on average.
The Houthis are targeting Saudi
oil infrastructure and shipping as part of a recently declared blockade. Recent
advances by the Iran-aligned group puts them closer to a major US base in
Djibouti.
The
spiralling conflict in the Middle East is now in its seventh month, after US
and Israel launched attacks on Iran on 28 February and Donald Trump declared
the war would finished in four to six weeks.
With
Reuters and Associated Press
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