The dust is beginning to clear on the Houthi attack on Thursday on Saudi Arabia’s east-west pipeline and the picture isn’t good. The above picture is the ‘after’ and here is the purported ‘before’ image of a pumping station.
Evidently, ‘several’ of these were hit in the western part of the country.
I want to put into perspective the importance of this pipeline, because it’s critical. It carries up to 7 million barrels per day but analysts have pegged the actual useful capacity at 5-6 mbpd. It was constructed as a (wise) backup to exports via Hormuz and was put into service following the war.
It’s been a tremendously important relief valve to get oil to market. Now it’s shut down.
A statement from Saudi Arabia officially confirms it:
East-West Pipeline shut down as a precaution following multiple attacks
An official source at the Ministry of Energy stated that the East-West Pipeline in the Riyadh and Madinah regions was subjected to multiple attacks on the morning of Thursday, 10 September 2026. The pipeline was shut down as a precautionary measure. The attacks resulted in a number of injuries, and medical care was provided to those affected.
The source said emergency and specialised technical teams responded immediately following the attacks, taking the necessary measures to secure the pipeline and assess its safety in line with approved safety procedures and emergency response plans, in coordination with the relevant authorities. Any further developments will be announced in due course.
What’s notable is that the statement says there were ‘multiple’ attacks and that coincides with some of the reports yesterday suggesting as many as five separate attacks along a 100 km stretch. The details are going to matter.
With a single station destroyed, it could be put back into service in a matter of days at reduced capacity but if multiple stations are destroyed, the oil could be cut off for weeks or months. The exact locations are particularly important as there is mountainous terrain in the area. If it’s on the wrong side of that terrain, then the oil simply can’t pass. But even if it’s in the right place, it could be severely curbed.
In any case, all the oil is missing right now in an already tight market. That explains why oil shot up yesterday but for today, I wonder if the market is still underestimating the impact. For some perspective, 20 million barrels per day normally transit Hormuz and with this pipeline and US escorts, somewhere in the 11-16 mbpd range is getting out but this will cut that in half.
This article was written by Adam Button at investinglive.com.