World's oil nightmare spirals as Saudi Arabia unable to supply crude after Houthi attacks
World's oil nightmare spirals as Saudi Arabia unable to supply crude after Houthi attacks
Somaiyah Hafeez, The Fri, September 18, 2026 at 12:03 PM UTC
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Satellite Imagery Of The Aramco Oil Terminal At Jizan In Saudi Arabia (Image: Getty)
Saudi Aramco, the world's top oil exporter, told at least two European customers that they state-owned petroleum and natural gas company will not be supplying them with any crude oil next month after Saudi Arabia's key pipeline to the Red Sea was attacked, Bloomberg reported.
Saudi Arabian crude oil is supplied to European customers on so-called term contracts to ensure a steady flow every month. Next month however those deliveries will not take place, people informed of the decision told the outlet requesting anonymity.
Earlier last week, a crucial Saudi oil pipeline was struck in an attack by Houthis. The pipeline will mostly be out of service for weeks as the damage is repaired, two regional officials said Monday.
Oil prices gained more than 2% amid growing worries about global petroleum supplies and the effect of the new developments on the ability of the world's biggest exporter to get its crude to market. The Iran war has forced the kingdom to shift its exports away from the Persian Gulf, since Iranian attacks have stifled shipping through the gulf's sole exit, the Strait of Hormuz.
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The state-owned petroleum and national gas company had also canceled or delayed crude oil deliveries to European refiners after the attack disrupted one of its last remaining export routes that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz.
A minimum of three European refiners had their late-September cargoes either canceled outright or pushed back as far as November, according to market sources cited by the trade publication Argus.
The pipeline has been moving an average of 2.6 million to 4 million barrels per day since late August - a quantity that will be lost to the market if the pipeline's flow stops completely, according to an analysis issued Monday by Rystad Energy, a Norway-based research firm.
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Saudi Arabia is Europe's fifth-largest oil supplier, having provided almost 30 million tons of oil to the continent in 2025.
According to the International Energy Agency's monthly Oil Market Report, European countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) imported 577,000 barrels per day of Saudi crude in June
Source: “AOL Money”
