The severe damage that Iran caused to Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia’s critical oil pipeline to the Red Sea recently suffered a severe Iranian attack that dramatically reduced its output.

The pipeline carries crude oil from processing facilities near the Persian Gulf to an export terminal in the Red Sea. The Saudis relied on the pipeline, which has a capacity of 7 million barrels per day, as the main way to export crude oil during the Iran war because Riyadh cannot export through the Strait of Hormuz due to Iranian attacks.

The attacks on Saudi Arabia’s production facilities cut the kingdom’s output by 600,000 barrels per day, according to a report by the Saudi Press Agency. Several refineries were also attacked.

The damage to the Saudi energy infrastructure will only exacerbate the huge disruption in the global oil supply caused by Iran’s attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

The US agreed on Tuesday to a two-week ceasefire in exchange for Iran allowing ships to pass through the strait. But the CEO of the state oil company of the United Arab Emirates admits that the strait remains effectively closed to traffic.

Iran has made it clear that ships must receive its permission to pass through the strait, said Sultan Ahmed Al Jaber, CEO of the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. “This moment requires clarity,” Al Jaber said in a post on social media. “So let’s be clear: the Strait of Hormuz is not open. Access is limited, conditional and controlled.