Saudi Arabia is running out of options to export its vast oil reserves as attacks force its main pipeline shut while Iran and its allies cement their chokehold on the kingdom’s two main maritime routes, analysts say.
The world’s top oil exporter last week shut its East-West pipeline, which runs some 1,200 kilometres (700 miles) between its main oil fields in the east and the Yanbu terminal on the Red Sea, after attacks on its oil facilities originating in Iraq, home to pro-Iran armed groups.