Saudi Arabia Cancels Crude Deliveries to Europe

Saudi Arabia is about to shut off the oil tap to Europe, at least for a month. Saudi Aramco has told at least two European refiners they'll get no crude next month, and Bloomberg reports that the move applies to all European buyers. The cutoff follows drone attacks that forced Saudi Arabia to halt flows on its East-West pipeline to the Red Sea, though Reuters reports that the line should be partially operational again within a week and back to full capacity in six weeks.

European refineries usually receive Saudi crude via Egypt's Sidi Kerir port, fed by that pipeline. The disruption has caused a scramble on both ends, with buyers such as Poland's Orlen SA moving to secure replacement crude shipments from elsewhere. The price of international Brent crude hovered at about $104 on Friday, having declined a bit from four-month highs earlier in the week.