Hormuz
The East-West is shut. Four percent of the world’s oil. Yanbu is dark.
Houthis hit the pipeline that bypassed Hormuz. Loadings cancelled. Wright: days. Goldman: eight weeks.
The Rocket News · World Desk · Riyadh / YanbuSeptember 16, 2026 · 4 min read
Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline is shut. It was the workaround when Hormuz closed: Abqaiq to Yanbu, oil to the Red Sea without the strait. Houthis hit it. Loadings at Yanbu are suspended. Riyadh cancelled some late-September cargoes to Europe. The World desk files a pipe that was supposed to be the answer, and is now the problem.
Up to 4 percent of world supply. Goldman: repairs from “very soon” to eight weeks. Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC the oil should flow in days. Since Sept. 7, two Saudi vessels have used the Red Sea. The Houthis hold Bab el-Mandeb. Salalah did not sit. The maps stay in the drawer.
The shutdown risks keeping 4% of the world’s oil supply from reaching international markets.
Video
Diesel in America printed $6.31 this morning. The World desk files Wednesday as it is: a pipeline down, a strait closed, and a gallon that only goes up.
Wire and further reading: nytimes.com
Filed under World
Keep reading
Diplomacy
The G20 skipped the photograph with Lavrov.
Reuters: foreign ministers in Atlanta dropped the group picture Friday after Europeans objected to standing with the Russian minister. The photograph is the head table. Lavrov is not in it.
Diplomacy
Witkoff shook Putin's hand, and Hubbard is free.
At Constantine Palace in St. Petersburg, the ninth meeting, Putin said the American held since 2022 was at the airport to fly home with the envoy. No peace deal was announced.
Canada
Alberta voted to stay in Canada.
With more than 1.8 million ballots counted, 76 percent chose to remain. The question was not independence itself. It was whether to open a later, binding vote.