Pipeline shut down: Saudi oil exports under massive pressure

Conflict in the Middle East

Pipeline shut down: Saudi oil exports under massive pressure

The pincer is closing in on Saudi Arabia: in the west, the Houthi militia is threatening an export route, in the east, Iran is blocking the Strait of Hormuz. An important pipeline is closed after attacks.

The widening conflict in the Middle East is affecting the world’s largest oil exporter Saudi Arabia massively under pressure. After the Iranian blockade Strait of Hormuz and the increasing threat to the Bab al-Mandab Strait by the Houthi militia Yemen The kingdom also has to shut down an important pipeline after drone attacks. A resulting additional reduction in Saudi exports could Oil price and thus cause gasoline prices to rise even further in Germany.

The east-west pipeline, which can bring large amounts of oil from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea bypassing the effectively blocked Strait of Hormuz, was shut down as a precaution after attacks on the line in the Riyadh and Medina regions. The Saudi Foreign Ministry announced on Platform Iraq was started, damage was caused and several people were injured.

The Iraqi government condemned the drone attack on Saudi Arabia that came from its own soil. The Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, Ali al-Saidi, said on X that an investigation should find out the circumstances of the attacks and the actors behind them. He ordered legal action against everyone involved.

The pro-Iranian group Islamic Resistance in Iraq denied any involvement in the drone attack and agreed to cooperate in the investigation. At the same time, she warned against exploiting the events, stoking tensions in the region or dragging the group into the conflict.

After the attack on Saudi Arabia, Iraq closed the two most important official border crossings with the neighboring country, according to the Iranian news agency Irna Iranal-Shalamjah (Persian: Shalammsheh) and al-Shaib (Persian: Jaisabeh) for an indefinite period of time. No reason was officially given.

The attacks on the pipeline hit Saudi Arabia at a very sensitive point: up to seven million barrels of oil per day (one barrel is equivalent to 159 liters) can be pumped via the more than 1,200 kilometer long pipes from the Persian Gulf region for shipment west to the Red Sea.

Since the start of the Iran war at the end of February and the subsequent extensive blockage of the Strait of Hormuz due to Iranian threats and attacks on ships, Saudi Arabia has been trying to use the pipeline to prevent an even greater slump in its oil exports.

US media like CNN and the Wall Street Journal reported that the attacks probably hit pipeline pumping stations. They relied on satellite images that show that there were fires there. How extensive the damage is and when it can be repaired initially remained unclear. The pipeline infrastructure had already been attacked in April, as a result of which the capacity of the pipes had to be temporarily reduced.