Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline had moved 5.8 million barrels of crude as of Tuesday morning, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said, adding more oil to the kingdom’s Red Sea export route as Gulf producers continue working around the Strait of Hormuz. The pipeline carries crude across Saudi Arabia to Yanbu on the Red Sea. Riyadh had been moving roughly 4 million barrels per day through the system after the Iran war disrupted normal exports through Hormuz. Drone attacks shut the line in September and halted crude loadings at Yanbu. Aramco restarted the pipeline on September 22, initially at reduced rates, and crude loadings from Yanbu have since resumed.
Saudi Arabia needs the route. Standard Chartered estimates Saudi crude exports recovered to roughly 6.9 million bpd in September from just 2.45 million bpd in August, with much of that rebound coming from a combination of East-West pipeline flows and increased tanker movements through Hormuz. Standard Chartered estimates Gulf crude and condensate exports excluding Iran reached about 16.5 million bpd in September, close to pre-war levels. Only about 60% of those barrels crossed Hormuz, compared with 83% before the war. The rest moved through bypass pipelines, alternative ports and an increasingly complicated network of ship-to-ship transfers. Freight rates and war-risk insurance remain elevated, tanker utilization is stretched, and some voyages now take considerably longer.
Yanbu carries its own security problem. The Houthis have threatened Saudi-linked shipping in the Red Sea and claimed an attack on an Aramco facility in Riyadh over the weekend. Saudi officials disputed the claim, and a Reuters source said Monday that East-West pipeline flows had not been interrupted.
source: oilprice.com