The Saudi government has attributed the attack on the East-West pipeline, which forced its closure, to drones launched from Iraq, according to the Riyadh Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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Through a statement, the ministry condemned “the attack on the East-West pipeline in the Riyadh and Medina regions – to the west – carried out by several drones coming from Iraq, which caused personal and material damage that is currently being repaired”.
“The pipeline was closed as a precaution,” said a Ministry of Energy official earlier, specifying that the attacks that occurred on Thursday morning against this vital infrastructure — which connects the Gulf with the Red Sea — left several injured.
Iraq has condemned any attack that threatens Saudi security and stated that its prime minister had ordered an investigation to identify those responsible, according to a statement from its armed forces.
The Saudi East-West pipeline, also called Petroline, is a strategic infrastructure that crosses the country from the oil fields in the east, in the Persian Gulf, to the port of Yanbu, on the Red Sea. It is about 1,200 kilometers long and has a maximum capacity of seven million barrels per day. It is the main supply route to global markets in the current context of tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
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Its importance lies in allowing crude oil exports while avoiding Hormuz, which led Saudi Arabia to increase its use to divert exports to Yanbu and mitigate the impact of the blockade and restrictions on the maritime route.
However, the East-West pipeline has also suffered threats and attacks claimed in recent months. At the end of July, the Houthis claimed to have attacked with drones “several targets and sensitive points” related to the supply and transport of oil from eastern Saudi Arabia to Yanbu, that is, the route associated with the pipeline.
In April, Iranian attacks targeted a station of the East-West pipeline and caused a loss of approximately 700,000 barrels per day of volume pumped through that infrastructure, although pumping was later fully restored.
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