Saudi Arabia's East-West Oil Pipeline Resumes Operation; Yanbu Plans to Restart Crude Oil Exports

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 22, Saudi Arabia's East-West Oil Pipeline resumed operation, and crude oil has re-entered the pipeline system. Three people familiar with the matter said the pipeline is currently operating at a lower flow rate, and Saudi Aramco is preparing to resume crude oil loading at the Yanbu Port on the Red Sea coast, with one cargo planned to be loaded later that day and shipped to China. Saudi Aramco has not yet publicly responded to the resumption of operations.

The pipeline had previously ceased operation on September 11 due to a drone attack, and crude oil loading at Yanbu Port was suspended simultaneously. Public information shows that the attack damaged 3 pump stations along the route; the entire East-West Oil Pipeline is equipped with a total of 11 pump stations and 2 pressure relief stations. In the initial stage of resumption, the pipeline remains at a low flow rate. A security source expects it will take several days to reach 40% of transportation capacity, and full restoration may take 6 to 8 weeks; another oil industry source gave a complete recovery time of approximately 6 weeks.

Saudi Aramco is restoring throughput to approximately 4 million barrels per day. The company's first-quarter 2026 materials show that the East-West Oil Pipeline has a total length of approximately 1,200 kilometers and a maximum crude oil transportation capacity of 7 million barrels per day, of which approximately 2 million barrels per day can be supplied to West Coast refineries, and the remaining crude oil can be loaded through the Yanbu export terminal. The pipeline connects Saudi Arabia's main oil production facilities in the east with Yanbu in the west, enabling crude oil to be shipped in the Red Sea direction.

In the first quarter of 2026, Saudi Aramco had increased the pipeline's throughput to its maximum capacity of 7 million barrels per day and maintained crude oil exports through the West Coast. The company's operating information for the first half of the year published in August shows that the East-West Oil Pipeline has since continued to be used to allocate its domestic crude oil flows and export arrangements.

During this round of shutdown, Saudi Arabia maintained partial crude oil supply through other export and transshipment arrangements. With the pipeline restarting, Yanbu Port shipments will first resume partial cargoes, and subsequent throughput will depend on the repair of damaged pump stations and the progress of system recovery.