Saudi pipeline hit by drones will be out of service for weeks, further
restricting oil flow
[September 15, 2026]
By SAMY MAGDY
CAIRO (AP) — A crucial Saudi oil pipeline that was struck in an attack
will be mostly out of service for weeks as the damage is repaired, two
regional officials said Monday, as Yemen's Houthi rebels seized more
islands along Red Sea shipping routes in a new blow to Saudi Arabia's
oil exports.
Oil prices gained more than 2% amid growing worries about global
petroleum supplies and the effect of the new developments on the ability
of the world's biggest exporter to get its crude to market. The Iran war
has forced the kingdom to shift its exports away from the Persian Gulf,
since Iranian attacks have stifled shipping through the gulf's sole
exit, the Strait of Hormuz.
So the kingdom has relied on the East-West Pipeline, which runs 1,200
kilometers (745 miles) across the breadth of the country, to move its
crude production from Gulf ports to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea.
From there it can be put on tankers for export. But authorities were
forced to shut down the pipeline after an attack Thursday that Saudi
Arabia blamed on drones from Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.
Repairing the damage, including at a major pumping facility, could take
three to five weeks, the officials, who have been briefed on the matter,
told The Associated Press. The pipeline may work partially during the
repairs, one of the officials said, but they could not say how much oil
might get through.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t
authorized to brief the media.
The pipeline has been moving an average of 2.6 million to 4 million
barrels per day since late August — a quantity that will be lost to the
market if the pipeline's flow stops completely, according to an analysis
issued Monday by Rystad Energy, a Norway-based research firm. It said
the jump in prices for Brent crude, which reached $109, “is a clear
signal that the market is increasingly pricing in a significant loss of
supply.”
The Saudi oil company Aramco, which operates the pipeline, didn’t
immediately respond to a request for comment. The government-run Center
for International Communication, which oversees foreign media in the
kingdom, said it was looking into an AP inquiry about how long it will
take to repair the pipeline.
Houthis' capture of islands strengthens hold on a key outlet from the
Red Sea
Meanwhile, Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels continued to expand
their threat to Saudi shipping routes out of the Red Sea by capturing
the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish, government and
Houthi officials said Monday.
The islands lie 160 kilometers (100 miles) north of the Bab el-Mandeb
Strait. The strait is a choke point that connects the Red Sea to the
open ocean and Saudi Arabia's key Asian markets.
The Houthis’ advance also puts them just 20 miles (32 kilometers) from
the U.S. military base in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, on
the other side of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
For more than a month, the Houthis have been striking Saudi oil
infrastructure and shipping in the Red Sea, stepping up pressure on
global oil prices and boosting Iran’s leverage in its war with the
United States.
The Houthi advances have seemed to come with little resistance from
Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces. The rebels deployed on the Hanish
islands after hundreds of government-allied forces withdrew from the
archipelago, according to two government officials and a Houthi
official. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they
were not authorized to talk to journalists.
Last week, the rebels seized the port city of Mokha and the island of
Mayun, inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Government forces are now attempting to rally and fight back. On Sunday,
the military said it launched airstrikes on Houthi positions in Mokha,
the coastal town of Dhubab and elsewhere in Taiz province.
A rebel spokesperson said the Houthis fired dozens of missiles and
drones at the King Khalid Air Base in the southern Saudi city of Khamis
Mushait, targeting hangars, radar installations and ammunition depots.
The statement on Monday by Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree did not specify when
the strikes took place, but the Houthis often take hours or days to
claim responsibility for attacks.
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Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, a Saudi military spokesperson, said the
attacks struck civilian areas in Khamis Mushait and other nearby
cities, injuring 13 civilians and damaging several houses and
vehicles. He did not say whether the air base had been hit.
The attacks narrow Saudi export options
The Iran war gouged Saudi oil production, which was down to 6
million barrels per day in August from nearly 10 million in
September the previous year, according to the International Energy
Agency, a Paris-based intergovernmental group.
After the war began, the East-West Pipeline carried a large majority
of Saudi Arabia's oil exports, according to Rystad Energy. When
Houthi attacks in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait started in late July,
most of the tankers from the port of Yanbu turned north in the Red
Sea toward the Mediterranean, sending their cargo through the Suez
Canal or an Egyptian pipeline.
That, however, dramatically increased the time and cost of
delivering oil to Saudi Arabia's main clients in Asia. Also, the
Houthis turned to targeting Saudi shipping in the northern Red Sea
as well.
The pipeline shutdown threatens to turn off the tap for an extended
period.
Rystad Energy said that a monthlong closure would represent a “large
disruption” that would see crude deliveries take longer and become
more expensive. It said “the market could initially manage it,” but
a longer shutdown would “require a major reallocation of global
crude flows.”
Thousands of Yemenis are fleeing the fighting
The fighting in Yemen is pushing the impoverished nation back into
full-fledged civil war, after a truce that largely maintained quiet
since 2022. Even as they advance along the Red Sea, the Houthis have
waged an offensive farther inland, particularly in the longtime
battleground province of Taiz.
The World Health Organization said more than 500 people were killed
in Yemen in the last week alone, up from nearly 200 a week earlier.
The Houthi rebels have made strategic gains in lightning advances,
capturing territories previously held by forces of the
internationally recognized government. The fighting has also
displaced nearly 94,000 people.
“Many of them don’t have enough food or water as they had to flee
with whatever they could carry. In some areas, whole villages have
reportedly emptied,” said Khanzad Shah, acting head of Islamic
Relief, a charity that operates in the area.
Around 200 schools have been converted to shelters in southwestern
Yemen to absorb an influx of families, said Basma Alloush, deputy
director of communications at the International Rescue Committee, an
aid group.
The fighting threatens to reignite a war that for more than a decade
brought disaster to Yemen, killing more than 150,000 people and
driving the country to the brink of famine. Since 2014, the Houthis
have controlled the north, including the capital, Sanaa, and much of
the western heartland of the country where most of the population is
located.
The internationally recognized government, backed by an array of
disparate militias, controls the south and east, including the key
southern port of Aden.
___
Associated Press writers Wyatte Grantham-Philips in Chicago, Fatma
Khaled in Cairo, Hannah Schoenbaum in Salt Lake City and Sally Abou
AlJoud and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed to this report.
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