Saudi Arabia has restarted its East-West Pipeline and may resume crude exports from the Red Sea port of Yanbu later today, according to three sources briefed on the situation.
The kingdom shut the pipeline on 13 September after drone attacks, bringing crude loadings at Yanbu to a halt.
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News that supplies were returning to the market helped push oil prices lower, traders said.
Brent crude futures dropped by more than $2 a barrel, reaching their lowest level since 8 September.
Two of the sources said the pipeline was operating at a reduced rate following the restart.
Saudi Aramco, the state oil company, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
One source said Aramco was working to restore flows to 4 million barrels per day, while a security source cautioned that a full recovery could take weeks.
The restart is expected to restore crude deliveries to Aramco refineries along the Red Sea coast, one source said. A cargo was also scheduled to load at Yanbu later today.
The cargo was destined for China, the source said.
Two other trading sources said market participants were preparing for Saudi loadings by positioning tankers near Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Port Said for ship-to-ship transfers, as well as at Sidi Kerir.
The developments came as G7 foreign ministers condemned the “unacceptable continued strikes” launched from Yemen against Saudi Arabia and called on the Iran-backed Houthi rebels to halt their attacks immediately.
“We call on the Houthis to immediately cease all military actions, all threats and attacks against civilian shipping, and to return to the political process in good faith,” the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States said in a statement.
They also urged Iran “to end its arming of and support for the Houthis,” accusing Tehran of violating earlier UN Security Council resolutions.
Military sources on both sides said fighting in Yemen between the Houthis and government forces backed by Saudi Arabia had killed 154 people over the past two days.
“The death toll from Saudi airstrikes, clashes and artillery fire in the governorates of Taiz, Al-Jawf, Marib and Saada stands at 118,” Houthi military sources said. Government sources reported 36 deaths among their forces.
Earlier, Saudi airstrikes on the strategically important Red Sea port city of Mokha killed at least six people and wounded eight, the Houthi-affiliated news agency Saba reported.
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi movement has mounted a rapid offensive in recent weeks aimed at seizing the country’s entire Red Sea coastline, including Mokha, leaving the Saudi-backed government struggling to mount a response.
Rashad al-Alimi, head of Yemen’s governing body, spoke with US President Donald Trump to seek American support against the pro-Iranian fighters, according to a source in Mr Alimi’s office.
The source said Mr Trump made no commitment to provide military assistance. The call took place on Sunday and was intended to demonstrate solidarity with Yemen’s embattled government, the source added.
US media has reported that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman has also pressed Mr Trump to launch strikes against the Houthis.
Yesterday, media reports said British Prime Minister Andy Burnham had agreed to provide military support to Saudi Arabia.
Tehran hints at Hormuz talks with US as leaders gather at UN
Meanwhile, a senior Iranian official said Iran could reopen the Strait of Hormuz to Gulf shipping within days if the United States lifted its blockade, calling the UN gathering a “golden opportunity” to restart diplomacy between Tehran and Washington.
US President Donald Trump and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian are both expected at the UN General Assembly in New York. It will be the first occasion on which they have attended the same event since Mr Trump launched “Operation Epic Fury” against Iran in February.
The Iranian official said Tehran’s delegation had full authority to resume negotiations, although no direct meeting between the two presidents had been arranged.
Iran and the United States are not known to have held face-to-face talks since July, when an interim agreement intended to end the war collapsed only weeks after Mr Trump and Mr Pezeshkian signed it.
“The US needs to announce that it wants to resolve the issue diplomatically, make that official, and then agree on a timeline for how the process will move forward,” the Iranian official said.
“The UN General Assembly is a golden opportunity for the US to return to diplomacy,” the official said, adding that Iran had delivered its latest proposal to Washington through mediators on 16 September.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told NBC’s “Today” show that Washington was willing to speak with Iranian officials at the General Assembly, “especially if it has the prospects of leading to something positive and ultimately achieving the goal of what this is all about”.
Mr Trump is scheduled to meet the leaders of the six Gulf Arab states: Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
The Gulf states want shipping through the Strait of Hormuz restored but remain cautious about granting their longstanding rival Iran excessive influence.
Every country in the group except Oman hosts a major US military base. Those facilities have faced repeated Iranian attacks during the war, placing further strain on the Gulf states’ decades-old security relationships with Washington.
