Saudi Arabia Shuts East-West Pipeline After Drone Attack as Red Sea Risks Mount

  • Saudi Arabia shut the East-West crude pipeline after drone strikes injured people near Riyadh and Medina.
  • The pipeline carried 4 million to 5 million barrels daily and has 7 million barrels daily capacity.
  • Iraq dismissed a Maysan commander, closed Shalamcheh crossing and pursued the attackers.

Saudi Arabia urgently shut the 1,200-kilometer East-West crude pipeline after a drone attack near facilities in the Riyadh and Medina regions injured multiple people, disrupting a key alternative to the Strait of Hormuz. The route had carried 4 million to 5 million barrels a day in recent months, with capacity of 7 million barrels a day, as Saudi Arabia redirected about 5 million barrels a day of Gulf exports to Yanbu on the Red Sea during the U.S.-Iran conflict. Riyadh said the drones were launched from Iraq but did not attribute responsibility to Iraq's government, while Baghdad dismissed a Maysan operations commander, closed the Shalamcheh crossing with Iran and began a search for the attackers. The outage comes as Houthi threats to Saudi vessels and gains around the Bab el-Mandeb add pressure to Red Sea shipping. Brent settled at $104.61 a barrel on Friday and WTI at $100.05, though both benchmarks recorded strong weekly gains.

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