Oil prices rise as attacks, Saudi pipeline outage deepen supply concerns

Oil prices rose more than 2% on Tuesday, September 15, 2026, after attacks on Saudi Arabian energy infrastructure left the kingdom’s East-West ‌pipeline offline, raising fears that damage to energy infrastructure and transport routes could take longer to repair.

Brent crude futures rose $2.5, or 2.37%, to $108.18 a barrel at 0813 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures were up $2.46, or 2.43%, at $103.85 a barrel.

Concerns over oil supplies intensified after Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen launched fresh attacks on Saudi Arabia on Monday, while Gulf Arab states postponed planned discussions with Iran.

“Fresh attacks by the Houthis targeting Saudi Arabia may be influencing oil ⁠market investors’ expectations about the severity and duration of the conflict,”the senior climate and commodities economist at Capital Economics, Hamad Hussain, told Reuters.

The Houthis on Monday said they fired dozens of missiles and drones at a military airbase in Khamis Mushait in southern Saudi Arabia, targeting aircraft hangars, radar systems, runways and ammunition depots in retaliation for Saudi airstrikes in Yemen.

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This followed attacks on Friday on Saudi Arabia, which Riyadh blamed on Iranian-backed fighters in Iraq, that disrupted the country’s East-West pipeline, which allows oil exports to bypass the blockaded Strait of Hormuz, through which about a fifth of global oil supplies previously passed.

The attacks on oil infrastructure marked a meaningful escalation of the conflict and increased the probability of Brent rising above $120 a barrel, Goldman Sachs said, citing a scenario in which ⁠average Gulf oil output in 2027 remains 4 million barrels per day below pre-war levels.

Commodity vessel traffic through the Strait of Hormuz dropped to four on Monday, down from 10 a day earlier, preliminary data from Kpler showed on Tuesday, raising concerns about a route that carried ⁠about a fifth of global oil supplies before the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran kicked off on February 28.