Brent Rises 2.6% to $107.33 as Saudi East-West Pipeline Remains Shut

Key Facts

Brent futures rose $2.72, or 2.6%, to $107.33 per barrel at 15:39 Greenwich Mean Time on September 14, 2026, as supply concerns persisted around the shutdown of Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline and other attacks on energy infrastructure and ships in the region.

Saudi Arabia’s Energy Ministry said the line was subjected to multiple attacks in the Riyadh and Madinah regions on the morning of September 10, 2026, prompting a precautionary shutdown. The attacks caused injuries and damage, and emergency and technical teams began securing the line and assessing its safety.

Saudi authorities have not announced an official restart date. Two regional officials who were not named by the Associated Press said repairs, including work at a major pumping facility, could take 3 to 5 weeks, with part of the line potentially operating during the work.

The pipeline runs about 1,200 kilometers between oil facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia and Yanbu on the Red Sea coast and has maximum capacity of 7 million barrels per day, according to Aramco. Its strategic value lies in allowing the kingdom to direct crude west when disruptions restrict tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

Flow estimates differ because they cover different periods. Reuters said the pipeline moved 4 million to 5 million barrels per day during the preceding months, equivalent to 4% to 5% of global supply, while the Associated Press cited Rystad Energy as estimating a weekly range of 2.6 million to 4 million barrels per day since late August. The figures do not measure the same period.

Reuters estimated that the outage threatens up to 4% of global supply and reported that Yanbu inventories may cover 5 to 7 days of exports, citing industry sources. That provides a short-term buffer but would not replace lost flows if repairs drag on or partial operation remains limited.

The supply-risk premium will depend on the safety assessment, the volume that can be restored during repairs and how long Yanbu inventories last. Any official restart timetable will be the clearest signal of whether the disruption is temporary or requires a broader reallocation of global crude flows.