Houthi Strikes Hit Saudi Aramco Oil Sites, Brent Tops $100
- Jul 27
- 3 min read
WHAT HAPPENED: Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels fired missiles and drones at Saudi oil installations in two Red Sea port cities over the weekend, striking facilities belonging to state oil giant Saudi Aramco in Jizan and Yanbu and opening a dangerous second front in the widening Gulf conflict. The strike set the Jizan refinery ablaze, with video verified by news agencies showing a large column of smoke rising from the Aramco complex.
The market reaction was immediate and severe. Brent crude surged back above $100 per barrel in early Saturday trading — capping a roughly 40 percent rise over the course of July alone — as traders absorbed the reality that Saudi Arabia’s last unobstructed export corridor is now under fire.
WHAT WE KNOW: Houthi military spokesperson Yahya Saree said the group had targeted and successfully struck Aramco sites in both Jizan and Yanbu. The choice of targets is strategically pointed: with the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed by the US-Iran conflict, Yanbu had become Saudi Arabia’s only functioning crude-export outlet, moving oil via the Red Sea rather than the Gulf. Striking it squeezes the kingdom’s exports from both directions.
Saudi-backed forces answered quickly. On Friday, the Saudi-led military alliance bombed Houthi military positions in the Red Sea port of Hodeidah, and Houthi-affiliated Al Masirah TV reported strikes on state telecommunications facilities in Hodeidah city as well as targets on Kamaran Island off Yemen’s western coast. Exchanges have continued as each side signals it will not absorb attacks without response.
The extent of damage at Jizan is still being assessed. The refinery fire burned visibly for hours, though Aramco has historically been effective at rapid repair and rerouting. Yanbu’s export terminals appear to have continued operating, but insurers and shippers are already repricing Red Sea transit risk sharply higher.
BACKGROUND: The Houthi attacks are an extension of the US-Iran confrontation that has consumed the Gulf through July. As Washington’s air campaign against Iran intensified and the Strait of Hormuz closed to normal traffic, Iran-aligned groups across the region faced pressure to open supporting fronts. The Houthis — who spent years striking Saudi targets during the Yemen civil war and disrupted Red Sea shipping in 2024 — are the most capable of those proxies, with a proven arsenal of ballistic missiles and long-range drones.
For Saudi Arabia, the timing could hardly be worse. The kingdom had positioned its Red Sea infrastructure as the workaround to Hormuz, reassuring customers that exports would continue. That reassurance is now in question, and with it a meaningful share of the world’s accessible spare oil supply.
REACTION: Oil markets are treating the strikes as a structural escalation rather than a one-off. Analysts note that a functioning Yanbu was the market’s main comfort during the Hormuz closure; with both corridors threatened, forecasts of $120 crude no longer look extreme if the conflict persists. Riyadh has vowed to defend its facilities and continue exports, while Washington — its own strikes on Iran currently paused amid Oman-mediated diplomacy — faces the awkward reality that the Houthi front is not clearly covered by any pause arrangement.
Notably, the weekend quiet between the US and Iran has so far held even as the Houthi-Saudi exchanges continue, suggesting the parties are compartmentalizing the fronts. Whether that compartmentalization survives further refinery fires is an open question.
WHAT TO WATCH: Damage assessments from Jizan and any confirmed impact on Yanbu’s export loadings are the immediate market movers. Watch tanker-tracking data for diversions away from Saudi Red Sea terminals, insurance rates for Red Sea transits, and any Houthi statement tying their campaign to the US-Iran talks in Muscat. On the military side, watch for expanded Saudi-led strikes on Hodeidah and whether US forces are drawn into defending Red Sea shipping directly.
Also watch OPEC and consumer-nation responses: strategic reserve releases, emergency coordination, and pressure on Gulf producers with pipeline routes that bypass both chokepoints.
BOTTOM LINE: The Gulf war now has a second front, and it runs straight through the world’s oil supply. With Hormuz closed and the Red Sea corridor under fire, Brent above $100 may be the floor rather than the ceiling — unless diplomacy catches up with the escalation fast.
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