CAIRO (AP) — A crucial Saudi oil pipeline that was struck in an attack last week will mostly be out of service for weeks as the damage is repaired, two regional officials told The Associated Press on Monday, as Yemen’s Houthi rebels seized more islands dominating key Red Sea shipping routes in new blows to Saudi Arabia’s oil exports.
The developments further strain Saudi Arabia’s effort to get its oil to market while avoiding the Strait of Hormuz, the choke point at the mouth of the Persian Gulf where Iranian attacks have stifled shipping. The kingdom relies on the East-West Pipeline, which runs the breadth of the country, to move its crude production from Gulf ports to ports on its western Red Sea coast. From there it can be put on tankers for export.
Oil prices rose more than 3% on Monday following the strikes on the Saudi pipeline and the continued chokehold of the Strait of Hormuz, through one-fifth of the world’s oil passes. Brent crude, the international standard, jumped by $3.21 to $107.82 per barrel. It was at roughly $72 a barrel before the start of the Iran war in late February.
Saudi Arabia blamed the strikes to its pipeline on drones from Iranian-backed militias in Iraq, forcing the shutdown of the 745-mile pipeline pipeline on Thursday.
The officials, who have been briefed on the matter, said repairing the damage could take three to five weeks, including at a major pumping facility. One of the officials said the line may work partially while teams carry out the repairs. The pipeline has a total capacity to carry up to 7 million barrels of oil a day.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to brief the media.
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’ grab of islands strengthens hold on a key outlet from the Red Sea
Iran-backed Houthi rebels captured 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.
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.
Saudi-backed Yemeni government forces have been attempting to rally and fight back. But the Houthi gains have seemingly come with little resistance.
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.
The capture of the islands came after the rebels last week seized the port city of Mokha on the mainland nearby and the island of Mayun, inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The Houthis’ advance also puts them just 20 miles from the U.S. military base in Djibouti, on the other side of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Thousands of Yemenis are fleeing the fighting
The fighting 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.
Some 150 civilians have been killed in fighting since Sept. 3, including a pregnant woman killed Saturday in a village in Taiz province, the government’s Human Rights Ministry said. More than 200 civilians have been wounded, it said.
Thousands of families have fled their homes in Taiz and nearby provinces in the past day, said Khanzad Shah, acting head of Islamic Relief, a charity that operates in the area.
“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,” he said.
The United Nations has estimated that more than 80,000 people have been displaced in the past two weeks, including over 2,000 people who fled by boat to Djibouti.
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.
