Saudi Arabia has shut down its East-West pipeline after the vital oil conduit came under aerial attack in the widening Middle East war.
The world’s largest crude oil exporter temporarily closed the pipeline after a drone attack that both Baghdad and Riyadh said had originated in Iraq, where Iranian-backed militias operate. Iraq dismissed a military commander on Saturday in response to the attack.
The 1,200km (745-mile) pipeline running across the Arabian Peninsula had helped Saudi Arabia to bypass a shipping logjam in the Strait of Hormuz, where tanker traffic has slowed to a trickle due to the war between the US and Iran.
The Saudi energy ministry said it had shut the pipeline as a precaution. The line has been moving 4 million to 5 million barrels per day in recent months, amounting to 4 to 5 per cent of global supply, according to ship tracking companies and analysts.
The attack comes as Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen tightened their grip in the Red Sea, which combined with the Strait of Hormuz disruptions has put an energy squeeze on both sides of the Arabian peninsula and sent global oil prices back above US$100 per barrel.
Four Yemeni government sources said that Houthis had seized the strategic island of Perim on Friday at the mouth of the Red Sea, in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.