Why a Saudi Arabia pipeline closure could drive up gas prices - USA Today
The closure of a critical pipeline in Saudi Arabia, recent activity by Houthi rebels near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and the war in Iran impacting the Strait of Hormuz have compounded to push crude oil prices up to over $108 a barrel.
The Saudi East-West oil pipeline moves an estimated 7 million barrels a day across Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia said on Sept. 11 that they were shutting down the pipeline as a precautionary measure after multiple attacks by drones launched from Iraq struck near the pipeline. Reuters estimates the pipeline moves about 4% of the global oil supply.
Satellite imagery captured by Vantor on Sept. 11 shows damage to structures near the pipeline.
According to AAA, diesel has hit a new high on Sept. 14 of $6.23 for the national average.
Because oil is traded on a global market, disruptions to supply anywhere can drive up crude prices everywhere, including in the United States.
The Houthis on Sept. 14 said they fired dozens of missiles and drones at a military airbase in Khamis Mushait in southern Saudi Arabia, targeting aircraft hangars, radar systems, runways and ammunition depots in retaliation for Saudi airstrikes in Yemen, according to Reuters.
On Sept. 11, Saudi Arabia blamed Iran-backed fighters in Iraq for striking and shutting down the country's east-west pipeline, which allows Gulf oil exports to bypass the blockaded Strait of Hormuz.
In addition to recent attacks on the pipeline, Iran-backed Houthi rebels have shut down the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a shipping route between the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa.
The Yemen-based Houthi militia announced Sept. 11 that they had also seized Perim Island, a strategic isle that will allow them to control the Bab el-Mandeb.
With the conflict in the Strait of Hormuz continuing, these key routes will put a strain on the global economy that is now poised to intensify.
Vessel traffic in the Bab el-Mandeb dipped to a recent low on Sept. 11 following the conflict in the region, according to data shared by Kpler, a vessel tracking company.
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, about 25 million barrels of oil per day transited the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait during the first half of 2025.
Flows through the Strait of Hormuz have slowed to just 6 million to 9 million barrels per day, Reuters reported.
World leaders and experts have warned that continued disruptions to trade could eventually cause a global recession where tens of millions of people go hungry.
Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait are also used for shipping consumer goods and other commodities between Asia, Europe, and beyond. Disruptions at these routes have driven up oil prices and shipping costs.
The pipeline system consists of two lines — one 56 inches in diameter and the other 48 inches — that extend 746 miles across Saudi Arabia. The thickness of the pipes varies depending on the terrain they're passing through.
The Houthis are a political movement, military force, and religious group that has long acted as a frontline surrogate for Iran, sharing some strategic objectives such as wanting to drive the United States out of the Middle East.
Since 2014, the Houthis have fought in Yemen's civil war against the country's government, which is backed militarily by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and indirectly by the United States and Britain through weapons supplies.
Political scientists at the Anaween Research Center, a Yemen-headquartered public policy think tank, wrote in an analysis published Sept. 10 that the Houthis' advance on the Bab el-Mandeb Strait is likely intended, in part, to "create an additional Iranian leverage card in the Red Sea."
