KSA, US discuss Yemen escalation

Saudi Arabia has resumed exporting oil via its East-West pipeline after repairing the damage caused by drone strikes earlier this month, people familiar with the matter said Monday, restoring partial flows on a major route that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz.

The development came as Secretary of State Marco Rubio met his Saudi counterpart, Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, in Washington, as Saudi Arabia seeks US backing for its military campaign against the Houthis.

The Trump administration has avoided direct military involvement in Yemen, where the Iran-backed militants launched a sweeping offensive this month to seize the country's Red Sea coast from Saudi-backed government forces. The Houthi gains give the group leverage to disrupt shipping in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, a key chokepoint that connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden.

The Houthis have also attacked Saudi shipping and energy infrastructure, including in Aramco facilities in the port city of Yanbu. On Saturday, Saudi Arabia's military spokesperson, Maj. Gen. Turki al-Malki, said Saudi air defenses intercepted two drones and two ballistic missiles fired from Yemen.

The renewed fighting has reignited the civil war in Yemen, which began in 2014 when the Houthis seized the capital, Sanaa, and much of the country's north from the internationally recognized government.

Saudi Aramco, the kingdom's flagship oil company, started loading vessels at the Red Sea port of Yanbu via the pipeline on Sunday, the people said. The development comes after the company began testing the pipeline last week for structural integrity and pressure, the people said. The pipeline was shut after drone attacks from Iraq on Sept. 10.

Aramco is currently operating the pipeline at a throughput rate of around 3.5 million barrels a day, the people noted. Part of the current flows will be directed to domestic refineries, they said.

Aramco didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

The East-West pipeline can carry up to 7 million barrels a day--about 2 million for domestic Saudi refiners and the rest for export--but had never operated at full capacity for an extended period before the Iran war began on Feb. 28. Roughly 4 million barrels a day--around 4% of global supply--were flowing through it before the pipeline outage earlier this month, analysts estimate.