Saudi East-West Oil Pipeline Under Siege by Houthi Rebels
The East-West oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia has been a crucial route for exporting oil to Asia and Europe. The 1,200 km long pipeline connects the Abqaiq oil production area on the eastern side with the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea.
It consists of two pipelines: one 56-inch diameter for oil and one 48-inch diameter for natural gas, requiring 11 pumping stations. The pipeline can transport 5 million barrels per day (standard capacity) to 7 million urgently, and approximately 290,000 barrels of natural gas per day.
However, the pipeline has been a target for attacks by the Houthi rebels in Yemen. In May 2019, a planned 536 km extension was attacked and remains non-operational to this day. Attacks on the Abqaiq refinery and the Khurais oil field caused Saudi production to lose over 4 million barrels of oil per day in September 2019.
On April 2026, an attack damaged part of the SATORP plant (Jubail, a French-linked company), reducing its capacity by 600,000 barrels per day. The CEO of Total Energies testified that a full recovery would not occur until 2027. Recently, on September 13th, a UAV attack from Iraq targeted pumping stations along the pipeline.