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Saudi Arabia shuts East-West oil pipeline amid Houthi maritime activity

What happened

Saudi Arabia has shut down its East-West oil pipeline following a series of drone attacks, which have been traced to Iraq.

Yemen's Iranian-backed Houthi rebels have seized an island in a key strait and expanded their operations into the Bab al-Mandeb Strait, a maritime chokepoint.

Reports indicate that Saudi Arabia's crown prince has requested direct U.S. military assistance from President Trump to counter the Houthi forces.

Why it matters

The pipeline shutdown and Houthi maritime activity have negatively impacted Saudi oil exports and contributed to rising global fuel prices, with Brent crude prices increasing by approximately 3%.

Context

The 1,201-kilometer East-West Pipeline, or Petroline, connects the Abqaiq oil field to Yanbu on the Red Sea and serves as a major crude route that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz.

The Bab al-Mandeb Strait is a global chokepoint located between Yemen and the Horn of Africa, connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean.

Recent Houthi operations have been linked to a resurgence of the civil war in Yemen and have introduced new security concerns across the region.

Sources 9 sources

This briefing cites 7 publishers across 7 detected independent reporting streams.