Saudi Arabia temporarily shut its East-West oil pipeline as a precaution after attacks in the Riyadh and Medina regions.

Saudi Arabia’s energy ministry confirmed a precautionary shutdown. Its September 11 statement said the East-West pipeline’s sections in the Riyadh and Medina regions suffered repeated attacks on the morning of September 10. The ministry reported injuries and said emergency and specialist technical teams immediately began safety measures and condition assessments.

The reporting distinguishes pumping-station damage from uncertainty about the pipeline itself. A CNN-attributed message citing two U.S. officials said initial assessments identified pumping stations as targets, with satellite imagery showing extensive fire damage at one station and a smaller fire at another. That account did not establish whether the pipeline itself was damaged or how long repairs would take.

The pipeline’s reported operating role gives the disruption context. The CNN-attributed account says Saudi Arabia had rerouted approximately 5 million barrels per day of crude through the pipeline to Yanbu on the Red Sea after disruption to the Strait of Hormuz. That figure describes previously rerouted crude flows, not a confirmed volume of production lost because of this shutdown.

Later statements added attribution but no reopening schedule. Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry attributed the attacks to drones from Iraq and reported injuries and facility damage; Iraq’s prime minister’s office subsequently said an investigation confirmed the attacks originated in Iraq and that a military commander had been removed. The supplied reports do not give a confirmed restoration date or a direct effect on data-center operations.