Saudi Arabia Pipeline Outage Puts Global Oil Supply at Risk

Gist Houthi drone attacks have forced Saudi Arabia to shut down its crucial East-West oil pipeline, threatening to disrupt up to 4% of the global oil supply. With the pipeline offline, the Kingdom is relying on existing storage at Red Sea and Mediterranean ports, which will run out within days if operations do not resume. For civil services aspirants, this event underscores the severe vulnerability of global energy supply chains to regional geopolitical conflicts and highlights the direct implications for global crude prices and energy security. Background Saudi Arabia is the world's largest exporter of crude oil, traditionally moving most of its exports through the Persian Gulf and the heavily congested maritime chokepoint of the Strait of Hormuz. To mitigate the risk of blockades or conflicts in the Gulf, Saudi Arabia utilizes the East-West pipeline to reroute crude oil from its eastern oil fields directly across the peninsula to the Red Sea port of Yanbu . The Houthi movement , based in neighboring Yemen, frequently targets Saudi Arabian strategic and energy infrastructure using drones and missiles as part of an…