A strategic oil pipeline may have been attacked in Saudi Arabia - PHOTO

Satellite images show a powerful smoke plume stretching about 100 km and prolonged thermal anomalies along the East-West Pipeline southeast of Medina in Saudi Arabia.

According to NASA fire data, thermal signals with a power of more than 70 MW were recorded at several points along the pipeline corridor and persisted for several hours. These readings significantly exceed the parameters of ordinary flaring.

According to Clash Report, some analysts suggest that between six and eight sections of the pipeline may have been hit. Its depressurization or rupture is also not ruled out.

At the same time, there has been no official confirmation of this information from Saudi Aramco or international news agencies so far.

This concerns a strategically important pipeline, which is Saudi Arabia's main route bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. Its capacity is about 7 million barrels of oil per day, of which approximately 5 million barrels of export oil are sent daily to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea coast.

If the information about the strike is confirmed, the attack will pose a threat to Saudi Arabia's backup export route, which the country had counted on after the restriction of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz.

In April, the pipeline was already subjected to an attack. At that time, according to available data, a strike by an Iranian drone led to the suspension of the transportation of about 700,000 barrels of oil per day for four days.

The current situation could have even more serious consequences. Against the backdrop of reports about the recent seizure of Mocha by the Houthis and the threat to shipping in the area of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the other end of the Red Sea route, a confirmed strike on the pipeline would mean simultaneous pressure on Saudi Arabia's two main export directions.

Against this backdrop, oil prices exceeded $105 per barrel even before these reports appeared.

Source: Clash Report