Oil prices rose above $107 a barrel on Tuesday as Houthi forces expanded their control of a strategic Red Sea passage and Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline remained out of service after missile strikes. Brent crude futures gained 2% to $107.83 a barrel, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose 2.1% to $103.50. Brent had briefly reached $109.80 on Monday before retreating. The 750-mile East-West Pipeline can carry up to 7 million barrels per day from Saudi Arabia’s eastern oil fields to Yanbu, but damage to pumping facilities is expected to take six to eight weeks to fully repair. Saudi officials are seeking to restore some capacity in the coming days. The outage removes an alternative route that allows Saudi exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz. Yanbu loadings fell from more than 4 million barrels per day between April and June to 1.1 million barrels per day in August, according to LSEG shipping data. Rystad Energy analyst Janiv Shah estimates that Yanbu holds two to six days of crude reserves, with Egyptian stocks potentially adding at least another week. Houthi forces aligned with Iran captured Perim Island in the Bab al-Mandeb Strait after taking Mokha port, increasing their ability to disrupt Red Sea oil traffic. Negotiations between Iran and Gulf nations on reopening the Strait of Hormuz were postponed indefinitely, with no replacement date announced. Before the U.S.-Iran military conflict began in late February, the waterway handled about one-fifth of global oil transit, but flows have remained sharply lower since its effective closure. Commonwealth Bank of Australia energy analyst Vivek Dhar said market-stabilizing conditions were worsening as Chinese crude purchases increased and new non-OPEC capacity outside the Middle East was not expected before 2027. CBA’s estimate that global inventories cover only five to eleven weeks of consumption is becoming more plausible, Dhar said. On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump repeated claims that Iran was pursuing a peace agreement, while Iranian officials rejected that characterization and said negotiations would not begin until their preconditions were met.