Saudi Arabia Resumes Oil Loadings at Yanbu Port Days After Restating East-West Pipeline

Saudi Arabia has resumed crude oil loadings from its Red Sea port of Yanbu following the restart of the East-West Pipeline, according to trade sources and shipping data, offering relief to global energy markets strained by Middle East conflicts.

State-owned oil giant Saudi Aramco shut down the key pipeline on Sept. 11 after drone attacks, which Saudi authorities attributed to Iraqi militias, forced a complete halt to Yanbu crude exports. Operations on the pipeline officially resumed last Tuesday.

Saudi Aramco notified international customers on Monday evening of its October Yanbu loading schedule, an Asian refining source confirmed. At least one refiner successfully loaded a cargo from the terminal late last week.

The operational pipeline provides a critical alternative route for Middle East oil, circumventing the Strait of Hormuz, where ongoing military conflict between the United States and Iran has severely throttled maritime transit.

Before the war, the strait served as the conduit for nearly 20% of the world’s oil supply. However, that changed when Iran imposed a naval blockade.

European Space Agency satellite imagery from Sept. 27 showed Saudi Arabia loading nearly 10 million barrels of crude oil at Yanbu and the nearby southern terminal of Al Muajjiz, vessel-tracking firm TankerTrackers.com reported Tuesday.

The firm visually identified 40 tankers operating in the region alongside additional refined-product loadings.

Trade sources estimate crude loadings from Yanbu have averaged about 2 million barrels per day (bpd) since last week.

Ship-tracking firm Kpler estimates current throughput on the East-West Pipeline at 2.65 million bpd, with expectations to reach 3 million to 4 million bpd in the coming days.

Kpler noted that a full return to pre-attack capacity of roughly 5.5 million bpd may take another month.

Crude inventories at Yanbu rose by 1 million barrels on Sept. 22, marking the first inventory build since the attacks.

Combined with recovering transit through Hormuz and additional flows from Fujairah, the pipeline restart brings total Middle East crude exports to nearly 80% of pre-conflict levels.