Saudi Arabia Reroutes Oil Exports as Houthi Strikes Target Yanbu

Saudi Arabia has rerouted its oil exports following Houthi strikes on Yanbu, a port near the Red Sea. Satellite images indicate the highest tanker count since at least June, with 14 million barrels capacity at the Gulf export terminals. However, overall Hormuz traffic declined over the same weekend. Only a dozen commodity vessels crossed the strait, down from 35 a week earlier.

On September 11, drone strikes from Iraq halted Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline, Petroline, which typically carries up to 7 million barrels a day from Eastern Province fields to Yanbu. This attack reduced Saudi crude loadings from 7.5 million barrels a day in January and February to about 2.1 million barrels a day by mid-September.

U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright announced the pipeline's restart within days, but restoration could take six weeks due to destroyed pump stations. On September 18-19, Yemen's Houthi movement claimed missile and drone strikes on Riyadh and Aramco facilities at Yanbu, though the Riyadh missile was intercepted with no casualties reported.

Despite the threat, Gulf exports rebounded to 1-1.5 million barrels a day, similar to August levels. Brent crude fell to $100.90 a barrel, and WTI dropped to $97.18, both down 2.82% and 3.11%, respectively.