DOMINANT ANGLE
Paris is gauging the extent of the blow dealt to Saudi exports, caught between the closure of the Petroline and the lockdown of the Bab Al-Mandab strait by the Houthists.
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The East-West pipeline (the Petroline), 1,200 km long and with a capacity of 7 million barrels/day, was transporting between 4 and 5 million barrels daily over the past few months, accounting for 4% to 5% of global supply, according to France 24.
- 02
Crude oil has risen above $100 a barrel after the pipeline closure.
- 03
The Iran-backed Houthists seized the Bab Al-Mandab strait on Thursday, September 10, closing the other Saudi outlet to the Indian Ocean, according to Le Monde.
ANALYSIS
Paris, Sunday, September 13, 2026. The French economic and international press is measuring this weekend the extent of the blow dealt to Saudi exports after the closure of the East-West oil pipeline, the Petroline, the only route allowing Riyadh to export its crude without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. The French government notes that the Saudi kingdom has just lost a key infrastructure for transporting its oil, recalling that the pipeline connects Abqaïq, near the Gulf, to the port of Yanbou, on the Red Sea.
BFM Business details the extent of the issue: the pipeline has a capacity of seven million barrels per day, a volume that Riyadh has increasingly mobilized since the outbreak, at the end of February, of the war between the United States, Israel, and Iran. France 24 specifies that the pipeline, 1,200 kilometers long, has been transporting between 4 and 5 million barrels daily in recent months, or 4% to 5% of global supply, sparing Saudi Arabia until now the fate of other Gulf exporters affected by the war.
The French media highlight the double constraint that now weighs on Riyadh: on its southern flank, the Houthi rebels supported by Iran seized the Bab Al-Mandab Strait on Thursday, September 10, closing the other outlet to the Indian Ocean, according to Le Monde. The closure of the Petroline thus deprives the kingdom of its last bypass route around Hormuz at the very moment when the other maritime outlet is also cut off.
The Saudi Ministry of Energy, quoted by the official SPA agency, explained that it had closed the pipeline "as a precaution" after drone attacks targeted the regions of Riyadh and Medina, injuring several people. The French press reports that Baghdad has confirmed that the shots came from Iraqi territory, dismissed the commander of the Missan province, and that Riyadh has chosen, "at the request of the Iraqi Prime Minister", "not to react at this stage". Crude oil prices have risen again, exceeding $100 per barrel, a consequence that the French economic press directly attributes to the disappearance of this export valve, in a market already tense due to the prolonged blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.
SOURCES (3)
- L'Arabie saoudite ferme l'oléoduc Est-Ouest, voie de contournement au blocage du détroit d'Ormuz, après des attaques de drones tirés d'Irak
- L'Arabie saoudite ferme l'oléoduc Est-Ouest, voie de contournement au blocage du détroit d'Ormuz, après des attaques houthistes
- L'Arabie saoudite ferme le pipeline qui lui sert à contourner le détroit d'Ormuz après des frappes de drones en provenance d'Irak
- BFM BusinessMEDIUM
