Saudi Arabia has temporarily shut down its major East-West oil pipeline, a day after the facility was targeted in a drone attack. The country’s Ministry of Energy described the shutdown as a precautionary measure.
The East-West pipeline has played a key role in Saudi Arabia’s ability to continue exporting oil following the disruption of the Strait of Hormuz during Iran’s war with the US and Israel. The Saudi Foreign Ministry blamed the attack on several drones that came from Iraq. The Iraqi government condemned the assault and ordered an investigation.
The shutdown comes as Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen captured port of Mokha and a strategic island of Perim in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, at the southern entrance to the Red Sea, opening a new front in the ongoing West Asia conflict.
The Bab el-Mandeb Strait is one of the world’s key shipping lanes. The advance could boost Iran’s strategy of driving up world oil and gas prices to pressure the United States. Two sources from the Saudi-backed, internationally recognised Yemeni government said its forces had pulled out of Perim and that the Houthis had also taken the mainland Red Sea coastal town of Dhubab, which faces the island.
If the Houthis gain control of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, on the opposite side of the Arabian Peninsula from the Strait of Hormuz, their backer Iran could gain a critical advantage in its war with the US, reducing supplies through a second major corridor and further raising oil prices.
On the other hand, the 1,200-kilometer pipeline shut down by Saudi Arabia is the key alternative route for Kingdom’s oil to reach global markets, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. It has been shipping 4 million to 5 million barrels per day in recent months, amounting to 4 to 5 percent of global supply.
