GULF WEEKLY: GCC-Iran meeting postponed, Saudi pipeline offline, Bahrain’s FX reserves fall

GULF COUNTRIES - Report 18 Sep 2026 by Justin Alexander

A skimmable summary overlaid with our analysis and links. Headlines:

* Brent touched $109 midweek as details emerged about damage to Saudi Arabia’s bypass pipeline.
* It might return to half flow quickly, but some estimates suggest 6-8 weeks to reach full capacity.
* The Houthis held onto the Bab al-Mandeb, and Trump indicated that he doesn’t want to intervene.
* The GCC-Iran foreign ministers meeting in Oman was postponed on Bahraini and Saudi objections.
* The Gulf states, except for Kuwait, mirrored the US Fed’s +25bp rate hike, given currency pegs.
* Amazon is unable to recover some data from centers damaged by Iran in Bahrain and the UAE.
* S&P affirmed Saudi Arabia and RAK, with fiscal balance forecasts nearly unchanged from March.
* Two Saudi fintech unicorns, Tabby and barq, between them raised $563m in VC financing.
* The UAE returned to a fiscal surplus of 0.8% of GDP in Q2, despite tax revenue falling to a 4-year low.
* The trend in UAE credit sentiment turned negative for businesses for the first time in five years.
* Qatar’s LNG exports in August were barely a tenth of the pre-war level, only supplying Kuwait.
* Kuwait may be considering a hardened underground bypass pipeline to Oman costing $4-6bn.
* Bahrain’s FX reserves fell by -37% m/m to under a month of import cover, with no swap line usage.
* Bahrain’s final 2025 deficit was -10% of GDP; spending rose 10%, and LNG costs offset gas sales.
* More positively, Alba is operating at about 80% of capacity, exporting by road via Jeddah and Sohar.
* Databank updates: Bahrain fiscal, Saudi/Oman forecasts, inflation for UAE/Dubai/Saudi.

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