Key facts
- Saudi Arabia has restarted crude oil loadings at the Yanbu port on the Red Sea.
- The loadings resumed after the East-West pipeline returned to partial service.
- The pipeline was shut for two weeks following drone attacks on September 10.
- Full resumption of the pipeline's 4 million bpd capacity is expected to take weeks.
- Crude oil loadings at Yanbu have been around 2 million bpd since last week.
- Aramco notified customers of the October loading schedule at Yanbu.
Saudi Arabia has resumed crude oil loadings at the Yanbu port on the Red Sea after its East-West pipeline partially returned to service, Reuters reported Tuesday, citing vessel-tracking data and trade sources. The pipeline, which allows the Kingdom to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, had been shut for two weeks following drone attacks on September 10 that damaged pumping stations. While full resumption of the pipeline's 4 million barrels per day (bpd) capacity is expected to take several more weeks, loadings at Yanbu and the Al Muajjiz terminal have resumed, easing supply concerns in the Middle East. Trade sources estimate that crude oil loadings at Yanbu have been approximately 2 million bpd since last week. Saudi state oil giant Aramco has informed customers about the October loading schedule at Yanbu. Vessel-tracking firm TankerTrackers.com reported visually identifying nearly 10 million barrels of crude oil being loaded at Yanbu and Al Muajjiz on Sunday, with 40 tankers observed in the vicinity. The resumption of these shipments is expected to increase global oil supply, though heightened Houthi threats to tankers in the Red Sea remain a concern. Kpler estimates that Middle East crude oil exports rebounded to about 12.8 million bpd in September, as Saudi Arabia rerouted oil flows eastward after the pipeline outage, utilizing ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman.