Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry announced Friday that it has suspended operations of the East-West pipeline, known as Petroline, following attacks reported early Thursday in the Riyadh and Medina regions. The ministry said the shutdown was a precautionary measure taken immediately after the assaults, which left casualties among workers who have since received medical treatment.
Emergency crews and specialized technical teams mobilized right after the strikes to assess damage and secure the area. Satellite imagery captured a thick plume of black smoke rising from the desert along the pipeline’s general route southeast of Medina, underscoring the scale of the incident.
The roughly 1,200-kilometer (about 745-mile) pipeline carries crude from oil fields near the Persian Gulf across the kingdom to Red Sea terminals, giving Saudi Arabia a critical alternative export route. Its importance has grown sharply over the past six months, after US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran prompted Tehran to effectively close the Strait of Hormuz—the narrow waterway through which roughly a fifth of the world’s oil normally passes. State oil giant Aramco had been relying heavily on Petroline to keep crude flowing to international markets while Hormuz remained blocked.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks, and officials have not specified how long the pipeline will remain offline. You can read the full original report at jornada.com.mx.
Source: Arabia Saudita cierra oleoducto Este-Oeste tras ataque; le permitía bombear petróleo evitando Ormuz (jornada.com.mx). English version produced with AI assistance.
Image: Mark Klotz, BY 2.0 (via Openverse).