Saudi cancels some oil cargoes after pipeline hit, top buyer chasing alternatives
XLE•Saudi cuts Europe oil shipments after pipeline attack
Saudi Arabia has cut oil shipments to Europe after drone attacks damaged its key export pipeline to the Red Sea, trade sources told Reuters, prompting top customers such as Poland to rush to seek alternatives as cargo prices topped $120 a barrel.
The attacks, which Saudi Arabia has blamed on Iraqi militia, 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 on Tuesday 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.
State oil company Saudi Aramco 2222.SE declined to comment.
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 United Arab Emirates and Iraq, trading sources said.
