Critical oil pipeline will be offline for weeks after attack by Iran-backed Houthi rebels

CAIRO — 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 four 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 ...