Satellite image shows damage to the East-West pipeline facility in Saudi Arabia. ReutersShow caption: Satellite image shows damage to the East-West pipeline facil…The shutdown removes a vital outlet for Saudi crude as disruption to regional oil flows sends prices higherOil surged towards $108 a barrel on Monday after Saudi Arabia shut its East-West oil pipeline following attacks, removing a crucial route for exporting crude without passing through the Strait of Hormuz and intensifying fears of a global supply crunch.Brent, the benchmark for about two-thirds of the world’s oil, rose as much as 3.7 per cent before paring gains to trade 3.19 per cent higher at $107.95 a barrel at 8.05am UAE time. West Texas Intermediate gained 3.14 per cent to $103.19.Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said late Friday that it had suspended operations on the pipeline as a precaution after “multiple” attacks on the artery in the Riyadh and Madinah regions on Thursday, which caused a number of injuries.It did not say when or if, or what sort of damage the pipeline sustained, or when Saudi Arabia, Opec’s biggest oil producer, plans to resume flow of crude through the pipeline.The pipeline is critical in linking oil production sites in the Eastern Province with Yanbu on the west coast. The full pumping capacity through the East–West pipeline amounts to about seven million barrels per day. It has allowed Saudi Arabia to continue exporting oil through its Red Sea export hub, bypassing the US-Iran war shipping chaos in the Strait of Hormuz.Updated: September 14, 2026, 4:35 AM