Global supplies of Saudi Arabian crude could run critically low within days after a drone strike, launched from Iraq, damaged the kingdom's vital 745-mile east-west pipeline, prompting Riyadh to shut it down. The pipeline normally diverts around 4 million barrels a day to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, allowing Saudi Arabia to bypass the Strait of Hormuz; its closure threatens roughly 4 per cent of global oil supply and pushed crude prices up more than 3 per cent on Monday, deepening a supply crunch that has already driven fuel prices and inflation higher worldwide.

Satellite images showed a pumping station badly charred by the attack, which Iraq admitted originated in one of its provinces bordering Iran, prompting the dismissal of a military commander and an investigation. Estimates for repairs range from a few days to five or six weeks, and existing stocks at Yanbu could sustain exports for only five to seven days without the pipeline restarting. The disruption compounds wider regional turmoil, including Houthi attacks on Saudi territory, the rebels' capture of Perim island in the Bab al-Mandab strait, a projectile strike on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz, and Saudi oil output falling to 6.2 million barrels per day in August from 10.9 million before the Iran war began.