New Delhi, Sept. 14 -- As tensions escalate in the Middle East, with the wider region being plunged into a renewed confrontation, Saudi oil buyers and traders expect Riyadh to run out of oil stocks for exports if the country does not resume operations on its major pipeline to the Red Sea within days.

According to a Reuters report, failure to resume the pipeline could result in a loss of up to four per cent of global oil supply. A deeper reduction in Saudi oil flows could intensify the global supply shortage, which has already driven fuel prices to record levels, fuelled inflation worldwide and pushed US bond yields to their highest point since the 2008 financial crisis.

Currently, the kingdom's crude inventories at the Red Sea port of Y...