Saudi Arabia has shut its East-West oil pipeline as a precautionary measure after multiple attacks on the crucial network on Thursday, raising fresh concerns over global oil supplies already strained by disruption in the Strait of Hormuz.

This came even as Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized the strategically vital Mayun Island located at the entrance to the Red Sea — developments that mark a dangerous new front in the wider war with Iran.

An official source at the Saudi Ministry of Energy said the attacks took place in the Riyadh and Madinah regions on the morning of Thursday, September 10. The pipeline was shut down while emergency and technical teams moved to secure it and assess its safety. The attacks also caused an unspecified number of injuries.

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A CNN report citing US officials and satellite imagery separately confirmed that pumping stations along the pipeline were struck and that fires were visible at the sites. The extent of any damage to the pipeline system itself, and how long the shutdown may last, remain unclear.

#Statement | East–West Pipeline shut down as a precaution following multiple attacks. pic.twitter.com/I9LWwsi53Z

— وزارة الطاقة (@MoEnergy_Saudi) September 11, 2026

What is the East-West pipeline?

The East-West Pipeline, also known as Petroline, runs roughly 1,200 km across Saudi Arabia, from the Abqaiq oil processing centre in the kingdom’s oil-rich east to the Red Sea port of Yanbu in the west.

Operated by Saudi Aramco, the pipeline allows Saudi Arabia to move crude oil overland from its main producing region to the Red Sea, rather than shipping it from terminals on the Persian Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz. The US Energy Information Administration describes the pipeline as connecting the Abqaiq oil processing centre near the Persian Gulf with Yanbu on the Red Sea.

The pipeline can transport around 7 million barrels per day (bpd), of which about 5 million bpd is available for exports, according to the EIA. This makes it Saudi Arabia’s principal route for rerouting crude exports around the Strait of Hormuz when shipping through the strait is disrupted.

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Why is the East-West pipeline important?

The Strait of Hormuz, between Iran and Oman, is the main outlet from the Persian Gulf and normally carries around one-fifth of the world’s petroleum liquids. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE have traditionally depended heavily on it to reach global markets.

The East-West pipeline. (U.S. Energy Information Administration)

But traffic through Hormuz has been severely disrupted since the US-Israel war with Iran began in February. This has forced Saudi Arabia to increasingly move its crude westwards through the East-West Pipeline to Yanbu.

This route has therefore served as an important safety valve for global oil supplies during the current crisis.

Why is the attack on the East-West pipeline significant?

Saudi Arabia has been using the pipeline to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, where oil flows have remained severely constrained by the war.

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Saudi crude moved through the pipeline reaches Yanbu on the Red Sea, from where tankers can sail south through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait into the Gulf of Aden and Arabian Sea. In July, that Saudi Arabia had increasingly leaned on this route to move crude to Asian markets as the Hormuz disruption continued.

In a bid to bypass the Hormuz chokepoint, Gulf countries have been scrambling to ramp up infra.

But that alternative route has been under pressure since Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis announced a blockade of Saudi-linked shipping through the Bab-el-Mandeb, another major global maritime chokepoint. The Houthis have now also captured Mayun Island, which sits in the Bab el-Mandeb, and the nearby port city of Mokha, further raising risks to shipping through the strait, according to agency reports.

The immediate effect on Saudi exports will depend on the extent of the damage and how quickly the pipeline can resume operations. Before the shutdown, more than 5 million bpd of crude was being transported through the network to Yanbu, according to agency reports.