Saudi Arabia shut down East-West crude oil pipeline after multiple attacks

BREAKING: Saudi Arabia shuts down its East-West crude oil pipeline after multiple attacks in the Riyadh and Madinah regions, threatening a key artery for the kingdom's oil exports.

Saudi Arabia just shut down its East-West crude pipeline after multiple attacks.

The kingdom's Energy Ministry says the line was hit Thursday morning in the Riyadh and Madinah regions, and several people were injured. Emergency and technical teams are on the ground now, securing the pipeline and checking how bad the damage is. Riyadh is calling the shutdown precautionary, and says more details will come in due course.

Why this one matters. The East-West line carries crude from the fields in the east across the country to the Red Sea coast, and it's the route that lets Saudi oil skip the Strait of Hormuz entirely. Take it offline and the kingdom's backup export artery is gone, right as tankers are already dodging trouble around Bab el-Mandeb.

Crude was already up 8% on the week before this news broke. The world's biggest oil exporter just lost its insurance policy, and nobody has said for how long.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.