Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Export Route Is No Escape from Risk

Middle Eastern oil producers have slashed production by between 7 and 12 million barrels daily since the first strikes that the U.S. and Israel launched on Iran on February 28. Exports have been paralysed almost completely, and Iran is charging $2 million for every vessel it lets pass through the Strait of Hormuz. Saudi Arabia, however, has an alternative: a pipeline that was built for just such a situation. The East-West pipeline leads to Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port city of Yanbu. The pipeline is 1,200 km long, and it was initially built…