Saudi Arabia spent decades building an escape hatch for the day the Strait of Hormuz turned dangerous.
This month, someone set it on fire.
On September 10, drones launched from Iraqi territory struck the East-West Pipeline, the 1,200-kilometer artery that carries Saudi crude from the oil fields in the east to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. The kingdom shut the line down.
Reuters later reported, based on satellite imagery and industry sources, that three pumping stations had been damaged.
Right before the strike, the pipeline was moving 4 million to 5 million barrels a day. That is roughly 4% to 5% of global oil supply riding on a single corridor.
Aramco is reportedly building a temporary bypass around the damaged equipment and aims to restore about half the line's capacity within days. Full repairs could take five to six weeks.
As of this writing, full service has not been confirmed.
So Saudi Arabia hasn't lost the pipeline.
What it lost is harder to rebuild. It lost the belief that its fallback route sits safely out of reach.
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