Saudi East-West Pipeline Restarts at Low Rate, Full Repair Still Weeks Away

Saudi Arabia restarted its East-West crude oil pipeline on September 22, 2026, twelve days after a drone attack forced the kingdom to shut the 1,200 km line that carries oil from the Eastern Province to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. According to sources cited by Reuters, the pipeline resumed at a low pumping rate and a first cargo, bound for China, was scheduled to load at Yanbu later in the day. Oil traders also reported tankers arriving at the port, a sign that Red Sea exports are about to pick up again.

The restart matters for global oil supply chains. Since the US-Israeli war on Iran began in February 2026 and traffic through the Strait of Hormuz was largely disrupted, the pipeline, also known as Petroline, has become the main export route for Saudi crude. Its full capacity is about 7 million barrels per day, and industry sources estimate that Saudi Arabia had been moving around 4 million barrels per day through it to Yanbu, roughly 4% of global oil supply. The International Energy Agency lists the system among the few operational crude routes able to bypass Hormuz, and Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser said in August that it had done more to limit the supply shock than the release of emergency crude reserves.

The line had already been targeted earlier in the year. In April, an Iranian drone strike on a pumping station cut throughput by about 700,000 barrels per day, but Saudi authorities restored full capacity in less than three days and announced the repair on April 12.

The latest disruption began on Thursday, September 10, when several drones struck facilities along the route in the Riyadh and Madinah regions, causing fires, injuries and material damage. Industry sources said pumping stations eight and nine were hit, out of the 11 pumping stations that serve the line. Satellite images showed extensive fire damage at a station near Al Mesba'ah, southeast of Madinah, and a fire at another site near Al Dhekra. On September 11, the Saudi Ministry of Energy announced that the pipeline had been shut as a precautionary measure while specialized teams secured the line and assessed its safety.

The shutdown quickly hit Saudi exports from the Red Sea. Loadings at Yanbu almost stopped, and Reuters reported that stocks at the port could sustain shipments for only a few days without pipeline flows. Several Asian refiners missed their loading windows, with vessels left waiting at anchor near the port or still on their way to the area. To limit the losses, Aramco turned back to its Gulf terminals and loaded about 14 million barrels onto seven very large crude carriers at Ras Tanura on September 20, despite the risks that still surround shipping through Hormuz.

The restart on September 22 came faster than many market participants had expected. It pushed Brent below $100 per barrel for the first time in weeks, to $97.81, while West Texas Intermediate fell to $89.50, and reports of a possible reopening of the Strait of Hormuz added to the downward pressure. The pipeline is set to supply Aramco refineries on the Red Sea coast again, and traders are moving tankers to Port Said and Sidi Kerir in Egypt to prepare ship-to-ship transfers of Saudi crude toward Mediterranean markets.

The recovery is still only partial. Flows remain well below the pre-attack level, and one source said Aramco is aiming to bring the pumping rate back to 4 million barrels per day, without giving a timeline. A security source warned that a full recovery could take several weeks, and neither Aramco nor the energy ministry has commented publicly so far.

The western export route also remains exposed to other threats. Yemen's Houthis declared a maritime embargo on Saudi shipping in July, have since taken control of Yemen's entire western coast and several strategic islands near the Bab al-Mandeb strait, and carried out strikes on Saudi energy facilities earlier in September that injured more than 70 people. The group also claimed an attack on Aramco facilities in Yanbu, a claim that Saudi Arabia has not confirmed. Cargoes leaving Yanbu for Asia must pass close to this area, which explains why part of the trade is now heading north toward Egypt.

The East-West line has now been hit twice in six months, and its role as the kingdom's main alternative to Hormuz makes it one of the most closely watched pieces of energy infrastructure in the world.