Saudi Arabia's East-West crude pipeline has stopped pumping after a new attack, with one source cited by AFP saying "there was big damage and the pipeline stopped again."

The 1,200 km pipeline, also known as Petroline, links the kingdom's Eastern Province oilfields to the Yanbu export terminal on the Red Sea, giving Saudi Arabia a route to global markets that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz. Pumping stopped following the latest strike, according to the AFP dispatch, relayed by financial news service Newsquawk.

The East-West pipeline has featured in past Houthi campaigns against Saudi energy infrastructure. A 2019 strike on Saudi Aramco's Abqaiq processing facility and the pipeline knocked out a significant share of the kingdom's production for several days. Saudi Aramco, the state oil company that operates both the pipeline and the Yanbu terminal, had not publicly commented on the reported shutdown at the time of the AFP report.

For markets, the immediate question is duration. Short interruptions on the East-West pipeline can be absorbed through storage and rerouting to the kingdom's Eastern Province terminals at Ras Tanura, where loadings continue. A prolonged halt, by contrast, would force Aramco to reallocate term-customer barrels and could lift the Brent–Dubai spread, a benchmark watched by Asian refiners pricing Middle East sour crude.

Saudi Arabia is currently producing close to its OPEC+ quota after unwinding voluntary cuts adopted in 2023 as part of a coordinated effort to support prices. Any sustained loss of East-West throughput arrives at a politically sensitive moment, with OPEC+ ministers scheduled to assess production policy for the coming months.

The source quoted by AFP indicated "big damage," suggesting a more complex repair sequence than past incidents. The phrase "the pipeline stopped again" implies a prior restart following an earlier disruption, though details of that earlier incident were not in the AFP dispatch.

What is the East-West pipeline?

The East-West pipeline, also called Petroline, is a 1,200 km crude artery running from Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province to the Yanbu export terminal on the Red Sea. It gives the kingdom a route to global markets that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz.

What is known about the latest incident?

• A source told AFP there was "big damage"
• Pumping "stopped again," indicating a restart after an earlier disruption
• No claim of responsibility was reported
• Saudi Aramco had not issued a public statement at the time of the AFP dispatch

What is the market watch?

• Duration of the pumping halt
• Aramco's next operational update
• Movement in the Brent–Dubai spread if rerouting is required
• OPEC+ ministerial meeting agenda

Watch item: Saudi Aramco operational statement and the duration of the pipeline halt.