Satellite image reveals major damage that shut crucial Saudi oil pipeline

Satellite imagery shows a key oil pipeline in Saudi Arabia has been badly damaged after a strike last week, which experts have told BBC Verify could take more than a month to repair and force oil prices even higher.

The image shows the most significant damage is at a pumping station along the East-West Pipeline, which Saudi Arabia has increasingly relied on to export crude oil via the Red Sea rather than through the Strait of Hormuz, where ships have been attacked by Iran and the US during their six-month war.

The Saudi government has accused Iranian-backed militias in Iraq of the pipeline strike, which followed days of renewed missile and drone attacks on south-western Saudi Arabia by Yemen's Houthi group - which is also backed by Iran. Saudi Arabia has retaliated by carrying out strikes on Houthi-controlled areas of western Yemen.

New satellite images also show damage to Saudi Arabia's King Khalid Air Base after a Houthi strike last week.

The Saudi government said on Tuesday it would respond "firmly" to attacks by the Houthis.

While the Houthis have been fighting a long-running civil war against Saudi-backed Yemeni pro-government forces, the group has stepped up its campaign in recent weeks.

It seized control of significant new territory across Yemen's south-western coast last week, including areas overlooking the crucial Bab al-Mandab waterway, strengthening its ability to enforce its declared blockade of Saudi shipping.

The price of a barrel of oil has surged since Saudi Arabia said on Friday it was closing the pipeline as a precaution. Brent crude was trading as high as $108 (£80) a barrel on Tuesday, down slightly from $109.80 on Monday.

Experts from trade intelligence firm Kpler said the pipeline's closure could reduce oil supplies by as much as 3.6 million barrels per day - or about 3.6% of global demand.

"Based on new information we've received, damage to the pipeline could take four to six weeks to resolve, given spare-parts availability and impaired supply chains," said Homayoun Falakshahi, Kpler's head of crude oil analysis.

Anne-Sophie Corbeau, from the Center on Global Energy Policy at Columbia University, said pipelines are "like sitting ducks" and recent strikes are a "very important signal" indicating workarounds being used to avoid the Strait of Hormuz "may not be super useful because they can be destroyed".

The Houthis have targeted other Saudi oil infrastructure with drones and missiles which has led to some operations being suspended.

There have also been attacks on military bases. New satellite images captured on Monday show damage to Saudi Arabia's King Khalid Air Base near Khamis Mushait which the Houthis said they had targeted with ballistic missiles and drones last week after it was used to carry out air strikes on Yemen.

At least three aircraft hangars or shelters appear to have been damaged at the Royal Saudi Air Force facility where US-made F-15 fighter jets are based.

The Saudi-led anti-Houthi military coalition of Arab states said on Tuesday that a Houthi missile and drone attack had injured 13 people in attacks on what the coalition said were "civilian objects".

The Houthis said Saudi Arabia had carried out with more than 50 strikes in western Yemen over the previous 24 hours.

The UN Refugee Agency has said that more than 100,000 people have been internally displaced by the renewed conflict.

Additional reporting by Barbara Metzler and Benedict Garman

Graphics by Tom Shiel

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Source: BBC News