Saudi Pipeline Outage Threatens 4% of Global Oil Supply

Saudi Arabia's major pipeline to the Red Sea remains offline following a drone attack on September 11, 2026. The outage is expected to lead to a loss of up to 4% of global oil supply if it doesn't restart within days, according to Saudi oil buyers and traders.

The pipeline has been a vital lifeline for the kingdom's oil exports, rerouting around 4 million barrels per day - approximately 4% of global supply - to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea. However, with stocks already low, Yanbu now has only enough supplies to maintain exports for five to seven days.

The outage comes at a critical time, as global fuel prices have reached record highs due to ongoing supply chain disruptions in the Middle East. The International Energy Agency (IEA) reported that world oil supply will decline this year by 5.7 million bpd - approximately 6% - due to reduced flows via the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea.

The Saudi government has yet to provide a clear timeline for repairs, with estimates ranging from five to six weeks to fix the damage. In the meantime, Saudi Arabia's oil production has already fallen to a more than three-decade low in August, with just 6.2 million bpd being produced - down from 10.9 million bpd in February before the start of the war.