A key Saudi oil pipeline hit in an attack will be largely out of service for weeks while repairs are carried out, two regional officials said Monday, as Yemen's Houthi rebels seized more islands along Red Sea shipping lanes in another setback for Saudi Arabia's oil exports.
Oil prices gained more than 2% amid growing worries about global petroleum supplies as the new developments strained efforts by Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest exporter, to get its crude to market.
The Iran war has forced the kingdom to shift its exports away from the Persian Gulf, since Iranian attacks have stifled shipping through the gulf's sole exit, the Strait of Hormuz.
So the kingdom has relied on the East-West Pipeline, which runs 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) across the breadth of the country, to move its crude production from Gulf ports to ports on the Red Sea. From there it can be put on tankers for export. But authorities were forced to shut down the pipeline after an attack Thursday that Saudi Arabia blamed on drones from Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.
Repairing the damage, including at a major pumping facility, could take three to five weeks, the officials, who have been briefed on the matter, told The Associated Press (AP). The line may work partially during the repairs, one of the officials said, but they could not say how much oil might get through.
