Saudi Arabia has cut oil shipments to Europe after drone attacks damaged its key export pipeline to the Red Sea, trade sources told Reuters.
The attacks forced the kingdom on Friday to shut its East-West desert oil pipeline, which has spared it from the worst of the impact of the closure of the Strait of Hormuz over the last six months.
Oil trading and shipping sources said that Saudi Arabia had informed European customers that some September-loading crude cargoes will be cancelled and oil loadings at the Red Sea port of Yanbu had been suspended.
The cut in Saudi flows through the Red Sea will prompt Saudi Arabia to try to export more oil via the Strait of Hormuz using so-called dark shipments similar to those already used by the UAE and Iraq, trading sources said.
