Saudi Arabia's Petroline has proven to be a critical economic lifeline during the war, with the 750-mile network of pipes connecting two waterways crucial for global commerce -- the Gulf in the east and the Red Sea to the west.

The Petroline is able to pump up to 7 million barrels of crude a day and has proven vital to delivering oil to the international market following the choking off of the Strait of Hormuz by Iran -- where roughly 20 percent of global crude supplies passed before the war.

The FT said a pumping station along the pipeline was hit by a drone on Wednesday afternoon, according to sources.

"The damage was being assessed," the FT reported.

Neither the Saudi government nor the state oil giant Aramco -- which owns the pipeline -- have commented on the alleged strike.

A strike on a pumping station could potentially knock the system temporarily offline, depending on the location of the station and the geography in the area.

Completed in the 1980s when the Gulf was upended by the Iran-Iraq war, the Petroline was built as a strategic contingency to bypass any blockage of the Strait of Hormuz.