Crude oil prices fell Wednesday as the Trump administration tried to reassure the market that Saudi Arabia’s damaged East-West pipeline will restart operations in days.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate

Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC on Tuesday that the pipeline outage is a “brief and temporary interruption” that “will be measured in days.”

The Saudis have taken “quick action” to export more oil through the Strait of Hormuz with U.S. military help while the pipeline is down, Wright said.

But independent analysts warned the pipeline could remain down for weeks based on satellite images showing significant damage to a pumping station.

Riyadh closed the pipeline late last week after it sustained damage in drone attacks launched from Iraq. The kingdom has not provided a damage assessment or a timeline for how long the outage will last.

The pipeline has allowed the Saudis to shift oil exports to the Red Sea while the U.S. and Iran battle for control over Hormuz. The strait was the Gulf states’ main export corridor before the war.

The U.S. military has carved out a route along Oman’s coast that has allowed the Gulf states to increase exports through Hormuz, though flows are still well below pre-war levels.

The journey remains dangerous even with U.S. protection as Iran continues to attack tankers. At least two vessels have come under attack in Hormuz since Saturday, according to incident reports from the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations Centre.

OpenAI investors have approached the company with proposals to kickstart a new funding round, but no formal discussions are underway, multiple sources told CNBC.

Investors have floated a $1.2 trillion valuation to OpenAI, and some have positioned the potential new funding round as a way for employees to sell stock, according to the people, who asked not to be named in order to discuss nonpublic information.

OpenAI, which raised $122 billion at a $852 billion valuation in March, is not currently engaged in conversations, the people said.

OpenAI declined to comment. The Financial Times was first to report the potential round.

OpenAI burst onto the mainstream in 2022 following the launch of its artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, and it’s ballooned into one of the most valuable private companies in the world.

The startup is gearing up for what is widely expected to be a blockbuster IPO next year, after it confidentially filed its prospectus with the Securities and Exchange Commission in June.

Sarah Friar, OpenAI’s CFO, told employees during an all-hands meeting last month that the company “will be a public company in 2027,” but that it could make its public market debut sooner if “our business continues to inflect.”

CNBC’s Kate Rooney and David Faber contributed to this article

WATCH: OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar: I am a tech optimist, but it is also important to align around safety

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed his thoughts on artificial intelligence safety on Tuesday, adopting a viewpoint closer to that of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang than to Anthropic’s Dario Amodei.

Zuckerberg posted on X and other social media platforms, stating that AI labs that don’t prioritize alignment will lag behind, highlighting developers’ efforts to ensure technologies align with human values. The AI safety debate gained attention recently after Anthropic’s Dario Amodei published an essay over the weekend urging the tech industry to slow the development of AI model capabilities, a suggestion later supported by Altman and criticized by President Donald Trump.

“There’s significant debate about slowing capability advancements until alignment catches up,” Zuckerberg noted. “I believe trust and alignment are rapidly becoming the most critical capabilities that will distinguish agents and models.”

Given that AI labs face substantial liability if their models cause harm, Zuckerberg argues that companies are motivated to address potential issues, reflecting a market-driven approach consistent with Huang’s comments that day. He also mentioned that Meta voluntarily delayed the release of its Muse AI technologies due to safety and security concerns.

“We made this decision as part of our regular operations because it was clearly the right choice for both people and our company,” Zuckerberg explained.

At the Salesforce Dreamforce conference, Huang advised Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff that AI model creators should take responsibility for their products rather than relying on government regulations to mitigate potential harms and risks, contrasting with Amodei’s earlier stance. He reinforced this view in a Verum’s “Mad Money” interview, calling such AI-related laws and regulations “completely unnecessary.”

“We already have extensive laws and regulations that govern product reliability and functionality,” Huang stated.

Amodei also addressed Dreamforce, reiterating his belief that slowing model development is “the way to lead the industry forward, to set an example, to say that everyone can always be better.”

Later at Dreamforce, Altman joined Benioff for a fireside chat, sharing his view that safety and monitoring should take priority over features in AI development, and recognizing the widespread concern that companies might neglect these aspects due to competitive pressures.

“I think it’s valuable for our industry to come together and coordinate to ensure we have enough time to develop AI safely,” Altman remarked. “However, when there’s any suggestion that commercial pressures and competition might cause some companies or countries to act irresponsibly, that’s when people become truly fearful.”

WATCH: OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar: I am a tech optimist, but it is also important to align around safety.