After Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz at the beginning to the U.S.-Israeli war against it, a great deal of effort on the part of the U.S. and its allies has been made to insist that “Everything will be fine.” U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent even went so far as to claim in early September that: “In two years, the Strait of Hormuz will be… a worthless piece of water,” he said in a Fox News interview on the sidelines of the G20 in Asheville, North Carolina. In the future, oil “will be going on pipelines across land,” he said.
Unfortunately, the largest of these regional pipelines has just been closed by Saudi Arabia following strikes on it last Friday. The East–West Crude Oil Pipeline runs 750 miles (1,200 km) from Saudi Arabia’s Persian Gulf coast to its western Red Sea coast, and is the region’s largest by at least a factor of 2, capable of carrying up to 7 million barrels of oil per day, though more regularly transiting between 4-5 million. This is around 4% of global oil—and it has now been shut down.
On Sep. 13, satellite images of the pipeline’s damaged pumping stations near Al-Masbah and Al-Dhahrah were released, showing charred and badly damaged facilities. While Saudi Arabia has not yet released an official assessment of the damage or the time needed until it can be repaired, sources reportedly told Reuters that the damage could take up to six weeks to repair, though others said it could be fixed sooner and could resume pumping partially while repairs are ongoing. Two unnamed officials reportedly told The Associated Press that it will be out of service for three to five weeks.
In addition, Saudi oil buyers and traders told Reuters that Saudi Arabia will run out of oil stocks for exports within days if it doesn’t restart the pipeline. Crude oil prices have already jumped as a result, with Brent crude closing over $105 on Sep. 14.
Trump made sure to deflect the blame on Monday, writing on Truth Social: “I hope everyone realizes that price increases throughout America were caused by Sleepy Joe Biden and the Biden Administration, not by ‘TRUMP.’ Even Oil was higher under Biden than it is right now, and we prevented Iran from having a Nuclear Weapon! With the temporary exception of Oil, prices are coming down sharply, and Oil will drop like a rock as soon as the Military Conflict with Iran is over, and that will not be long.”
