Saudi Arabia’s oil price slides amid pipeline plans, Hormuz diplomacy

Brent crude dropped roughly 2.6% to around $103.05 on September 21, touching two-week lows at or below the $100 mark. The catalyst: Saudi Arabia proved it could keep oil flowing even after drone strikes knocked out its main cross-country pipeline, and diplomatic channels around the Strait of Hormuz started looking less like a powder keg and more like a functioning trade route. What happened to the pipeline On September 10-11, drone attacks forced the precautionary shutdown of Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, known as the Petroline. The 1,200-kilometer artery had been moving between 4 and 5 million barrels per day to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, giving Saudi Aramco a crucial export route that bypassed the Strait of Hormuz entirely. Loadings from Persian Gulf terminals, particularly Ras Tanura and Juaymah, ramped up to approximately 4 million barrels per day. Ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman jumped from about 1.5 million bpd in August to roughly 2.7 million bpd. US naval escorts supporting tanker movements through Hormuz helped contain insurance premiums and security concerns. The bigger supply picture Saudi crude exports had already taken a historic hit earlier in 2026, pl...