A major oil pipeline system in Saudi Arabia was hit by projectiles on Thursday, according to two US officials familiar with the matter. An initial analysis found that the pumping stations, which are located next to the pipeline, were hit, one of the U.S. officials said. A satellite image taken on Friday appears to show extensive fire damage at one pumping station, and an image of another pumping station taken on Thursday showed a small fire sending up plumes of thick black smoke. It was not immediately clear who was responsible for the attacks or whether sections of the pipeline were damaged, but one of the officials said it was attacked by drones from Iraq. It was also not immediately clear how long it would take to repair the damage, the sources said. The attack indicates that the kingdom’s oil resources (and its ability to export them) face increasing threats as the war with Iran continues. The pipeline attacks come just days after an Iran-aligned militia seized a strategic port city on the Red Sea in Yemen, potentially further threatening energy transportation in the region. This week oil prices surpassed $100 a barrel amid sharp swings driven by events in the Middle East. The Saudi government and state oil giant Aramco did not respond to requests for comment. The State Department and White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment. US Central Command declined to comment on the incident. US officials have been working to gather intelligence on the incident, according to a source familiar. Although the source of the attack was unclear, Iran-allied militia groups in Iraq have used drones in the past to attack Saudi Arabia, according to Behnam Ben Taleblu, senior director of the Iran program at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), and may have done so again amid a broader Iranian strategy to use its proxies to pressure Arab nations to reject US forces in the region. In late July, Saudi Defense Minister Khalid bin Salman met with US President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance in Washington, DC, to convey the Kingdom’s assessment of the US’ ongoing war with Iran: that Iran would seek to create influence through escalation and would seek to make use of its remaining proxies (militias in Iraq and the Houthis) to do so, sources told CNN. Satellites detected nine large fires near Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline on Thursday, although the locations of at least six of the fires appeared to be pits, where oil and gas can be burned in the event of an emergency. The pipeline has become key for Saudi Arabia since the outbreak of the US-Iran war. The kingdom has diverted around 5 million barrels of oil a day that would have been destined for oil tankers waiting in the Persian Gulf, while Iran effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz. Instead, that oil has traveled through its East-West pipeline to its Red Sea port of Yanbu. With Houthi fighters declaring they would attack any Saudi ship attempting to pass through Bab al-Mandeb from the Red Sea, that outlet for the kingdom’s oil could also be at risk. Repairing the pumping stations could be less burdensome than repairing major damage to the pipeline itself, U.S. officials and experts said. The attack on the pipeline system also comes as Saudi Arabia informed OPEC that its crude oil production plummeted last month, plunging to the lowest levels since 1990. CNN’s Jennifer Hansler and Nadeen Ebrahim contributed to this report.
