Oil above $100: attack on Saudi pipeline drives up petrol and diesel prices in Czechia again

Vojtěch Kříž
16 September 2026, 13:23
Oil above $100: attack on Saudi pipeline drives up petrol and diesel prices in Czechia again

The oil market is experiencing its most dramatic six months in the past decade, and last week brought another blow. Saudi Arabia had to shut down the key East-West pipeline after it was hit by drones launched from Iraqi territory. Baghdad confirmed that the attack was indeed launched from Maysan province on the Iranian border and dismissed the commander of military operations there as a result. Saudi Arabia has so far said it will not respond militarily to the attack, but has reserved the right to protect its sovereignty and critical facilities.The 1,200-kilometre pipeline is strategically crucial for Saudi Arabia – it allows it to bypass the war-blocked Strait of Hormuz and transport oil directly to the Red Sea. Estimates suggest that 4 to 5 percent of all global oil supplies had flowed through it in recent weeks.The attack also came at a time when the situation in the Yemeni civil war is deteriorating sharply from the Saudi perspective. Iranian-backed Houthi rebels took control of almost the entire Red Sea coast over the past week, including the strategic port of Mocha near the Bab al-Mandab Strait – the second key shipping chokepoint alongside the Strait of Hormuz.Yemeni government forces have since been trying to push the Houthis back from the positions they captured, but for now it appears that the Saudi-backed and internationally recognised government will be fortunate simply to preserve its existence. At present, the situation appears set to escalate further. The UN is also reporting a sharp increase in the number of displaced people in Yemen.The combination of the two events – the threat to Saudi Arabia's export route and the loss of control over another key shipping chokepoint – has squeezed the oil market from both sides of the Arabian Peninsula. As a result, oil prices have once again exceeded $100 a barrel for the first time since July and are continuing to rise.

Geography and oil prices

The vast majority of oil and gas heading from Persian Gulf countries to Europe and Asia passes through both the Strait of Hormuz between Iran and Oman and the Bab al-Mandab Strait off the Yemeni coast. If both chokepoints are threatened at the same time, shippers are left with virtually no safe alternative route. Rerouting Saudi oil around Africa via the Suez Canal alone added up to 30 days to the voyage and raised transport costs. While longer transit times are a major complication, the pipeline disruption is a far greater problem. According to many analysts, the reserves that had so far helped the market weather the crisis have already been largely depleted.The market is therefore reacting increasingly sharply to every further escalation. Tensions are particularly evident in the diesel market, where prices have already reached record levels. Diesel is widely used in industry and transport, so its rising price will feed through into the prices of a broad range of goods. If the situation in the Middle East does not improve, some analysts say oil prices could return to, or even exceed, April's peak of $120 a barrel.Uncertainty is further compounded by the fact that this is not a short-term episode. The conflict between the US and Iran has now lasted seven months, and it is now being joined by the crisis in Yemen. Higher oil and gas prices do not affect transport alone; they raise input costs across the economy. In Europe, this is contributing to concerns over a return of higher inflation and putting upward pressure on government bond yields, which are currently at multi-year highs as investors expect central banks to take a more cautious approach to interest rates.

Impact on European and Czech fuel prices

Record-high diesel prices on global markets feed through to Europe with minimal delay, as wholesale fuel prices are derived directly from commodity exchange prices. Once oil prices began rising sharply at the end of February and in March 2026, wholesale petrol and diesel prices responded within days across Europe as well as at retail filling stations in Czechia. The current escalation in the Middle East therefore comes at a time when the European diesel market is already tight.The Czech government responded to the sharp price increases on 8 April 2026 by introducing a system of maximum permitted prices for petrol and diesel, setting a price cap updated by the Ministry of Finance. However, the regulation lasted only for a limited period and ended on 20 July.Since mid-August, diesel prices have risen sharply again (by roughly three crowns per litre), and at the beginning of September the nationwide average was around 46 crowns per litre. At some filling stations, diesel approached 50 crowns. Petrol prices are rising more slowly, with the average holding at around 42 to 42.50 crowns per litre. Year on year, motorists are therefore paying roughly 13 crowns more for diesel than last year, while the difference for petrol is around 8 crowns. The Ministry of Finance has so far said that it is merely monitoring the situation and does not yet consider further price regulation necessary.For households and businesses, this means noticeably higher transport costs; for a family commuting to work by car every day, it can easily amount to hundreds of crowns more per month. On the other hand, Czechs do not appear to have significantly cut their fuel consumption so far; on the contrary, it increased in the first half of the year. Further developments will continue to depend primarily on whether the conflict around the Strait of Hormuz can be stabilised, or whether the cycle of strikes and retaliation that is keeping oil prices – and with them prices at the pump – uncertain and volatile will continue.
Translation disclaimer

This article is a machine translation of the Czech original and has not yet been fully reviewed. In case of any doubt, please refer to the Czech version.

Topics:OilSaudská ArábieIrákIranceny ropyListbenzínpalivoválkaválka s ÍránemYemen

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