Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis said on Thursday they had attacked a pumping station on Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline and an oil facility in the Red Sea city of Yanbu, in the sharpest escalation yet of the renewed conflict between the group and the kingdom.
Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said a drone struck Pumping Station No. 7 on the pipeline, while a ballistic missile hit the Yanbu facility. The group also claimed a third strike, on an Aramco building in the capital, Riyadh. It did not say on which day the attacks were carried out, and Saudi Arabia did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Oil markets reacted fast. Brent crude settled at $95.82 a barrel on Thursday, up $3.06, or 3.3%, while US West Texas Intermediate closed at $88.74, up $2.21, or 2.6%. Prices had sold off by more than $1 in early Asian trading before reversing sharply as the Houthi claims crossed the wires. Even after the jump, both benchmarks remained about 2.5% lower on the week.
The pipeline is the reason the claims moved markets. With shipping through the Strait of Hormuz disrupted by the wider Middle East war, Riyadh has rerouted about 4 million barrels a day of crude through the East-West line to Yanbu — roughly 4% of global supply. The pipeline has spared Saudi Arabia, the world’s biggest oil exporter, the worst of the wartime shutdown of the strait, which has crippled exports from neighbouring producers. The US Energy Information Administration said this week that the pipeline’s restart had helped Middle Eastern exports recover in October.
The Saudi-led coalition said later on Thursday that it had intercepted and destroyed two drones launched by the group, one in the Riyadh region and one in the kingdom’s oil-rich Eastern Province. Egypt and the Arab League condemned the continued attacks on Saudi Arabia.
The claims come amid a rapid escalation on several fronts. The Houthis have been firing ballistic missiles and drones at Saudi airports, ports and oil installations since fighting resumed in July, and earlier this week Saudi air defences intercepted missiles over the Mecca region. The group has repeatedly denied targeting Islam’s holy cities. The same day, Iran’s military said four oil tankers had been hit by explosions in the Strait of Hormuz — a claim Reuters said it could not immediately verify.
The claim that the pipeline and the Yanbu facility were hit rests on the Houthis’ own statement. No damage has been confirmed by Saudi Arabia or independently verified, and the group gave no date for the attacks.
Sources: Reuters — “Yemen’s Houthis say they attacked pumping station on Saudi Arabia’s East-West oil pipeline” (https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/yemens-houthis-say-they-attacked-pumping-station-saudi-arabias-east-west-oil-2026-11-12/); Reuters — “Oil settles $3 higher on attacks on Saudi energy sites, Strait of Hormuz disruptions”, 12 November 2026 (https://live.euronext.com/en/financial-news/oil-gains-over-2-attacks-saudi-energy-sites-strait-hormuz-disruptions).
