Saudi Arabia announces the reactivation of the East-West pipeline and resumes oil exports.
Saudi Arabia announces the reactivation of the East-West pipeline and resumes oil exports.
2026-09-22
Shafaq News – Riyadh
Saudi Arabia announced on Tuesday the reactivation of the East-West oil pipeline after a series of repairs, and confirmed its readiness to resume crude exports from the port of Yanbu today.
Saudi Aramco has informed a number of Asian refiners that oil loadings from the Red Sea port of Yanbu could resume today.
The Saudi oil pipeline known as “Petroline” was attacked by drones launched from Iraq two weeks ago, halting oil flows of about 4 million barrels per day.
Following the attack, Saudi Arabia announced the precautionary suspension of the line’s operation, after it was targeted several times in the Riyadh and Medina regions.
The pipeline’s maximum capacity is about 7 million barrels per day, after increasing its capacity compared to its basic nominal capacity of 5 million barrels per day, while it was transporting about 4 million barrels per day to Yanbu before its precautionary shutdown.
The East-West pipeline stretches 1,200 kilometers across Saudi Arabia from the heart of the kingdom’s oil-producing region on the Arabian Gulf to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea. It became one of the world’s most important energy infrastructures during the Iran-Iraq War, serving as an alternative route for heavily restricted tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.
The pipeline allows Saudi crude to reach global markets without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. It was built in the early 1980s when the Tanker War threatened shipping in the Arabian Gulf.
shafaq.com
