Oil’s next test: Saudi Arabia races to restore a key safety valve for prices

A Saudi Aramco gas station in Santiago, Chile, on Friday, March 27, 2026. Saudi Arabia's crucial East-West pipeline that circumvents the Strait of Hormuz is pumping oil at its full capacity of 7 million barrels a day, according to a person familiar with the matter. Cristobal Olivares | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesThe global oil market is running out of safety nets. Prices are unlikely to fall below $100 per barrel anytime soon, analysts said, with traders increasingly pricing in a significant loss of regional supply as Saudi Arabia scrambles to restore a crucial pipeline.Saudi Arabia's closure of the East-West pipeline, a highly strategic network that transports crude oil from Abqaiq on the kingdom's eastern Gulf coast to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, has put 4 million barrels per day at risk and driven a sharp spike in crude prices.The development is more bad news for consumers — and comes against a backdrop of renewed hostilities between the U.S. and Iran, a lightning ground offensive by the Iran-backed Houthis along the Red Sea coast and a fresh wave of attacks on Saudi Arabia, the world's largest crude oil exporter. Analysts have emphasized that the clock is ticking for Riyadh ...