Saudi Arabia shuts the East-West oil pipeline after drones from Iraq hit pump stations

Saudi Arabia's Energy Ministry said on Friday that the East-West crude pipeline had been shut as a precaution after several attacks on Thursday morning in the Riyadh and Medina regions. Some people were injured and received treatment. Emergency and technical teams were sent to secure the line and check its condition. The Foreign Ministry later said drones that came from Iraq had hit the system and that damage was being dealt with.

Two US officials told CNN that pump stations next to the pipe were the targets. Satellite images showed fire at one station on Friday and a smaller fire with black smoke at another on Thursday. Weather satellites picked up nine large heat sources near the route on Thursday. At least six of those appeared to line up with flare pits, where operators burn off oil and gas in an emergency. It was not immediately clear how much of the pipe itself was torn.

The East-West line, sometimes called Petroline, runs from the eastern oil fields to Yanbu on the Red Sea. In normal years it is the bypass when the Strait of Hormuz is tight. In 2018 its capacity was about 5 million barrels a day. In 2026, after natural gas liquids lines were converted to crude during the Iran war, full capacity was put at 7 million barrels a day. After Hormuz was closed to non-Iranian ships, volumes moving toward Bab el-Mandeb rose. An Iranian drone hit a pump station in April and cut throughput by about 700,000 barrels a day for a few days before Riyadh said the line was back at full rate.

Thursday's strikes therefore hit the backup route at the same moment Houthi forces took Mocha, Dhubab and Perim Island on the Red Sea gate. Markets had already sent Brent above 105 dollars after Mocha. A shut East-West line removes the main overland path that lets Saudi crude avoid Hormuz and still reach a Red Sea port. If Yanbu loadings drop, more of the kingdom's exports depend on the Gulf and on whatever tankers Iran permits through Hormuz.

Attribution is still official language plus two unnamed US officials. Riyadh named drones from Iraq. One US official said the same. Iraq hosts armed groups that have fired at Israel, US forces and Gulf targets in this war. Naming the launch country is not the same as naming the unit. The ministry has promised further updates once the inspection is done.

For buyers in Asia who have used Yanbu to keep barrels moving, the question is duration. A precautionary shutdown can last a day or a week. Pump-station repairs take longer if control rooms or manifolds are burned. The April incident is the recent template: a short cut in flow, then a claim of full recovery. Friday's language was more cautious. The ministry did not give a restart time.

The line was built so that Arabian Light and other grades could reach the Red Sea without entering the Gulf. In the 2019 Afif attack, Houthi drones forced a short halt. This week's official account points at Iraq, not Yemen. That distinction will shape any Saudi response. A strike from Iraqi territory lands in a different diplomatic tray than a strike from Saada.

Traders will watch two data series. One is Saudi official export figures for the Red Sea ports. The other is tanker fixtures out of Yanbu and Rabigh. If those stay full while the ministry still says the pipe is down, inventories at the coast are covering the gap. If fixtures fall, the shut line is already in the physical market. Friday's statement left that measurement to next week.

Insurers and shipowners now have two Red Sea problems at once: Houthi guns on Perim and a dark Saudi pipe that used to feed the same sea. The combination is what moved prices. The next official number that matters is how many barrels a day Yanbu can still load while the line is inspected.