Saudi Arabia has brought its East-West pipeline into full operation, pushing 7 million barrels of oil a day through the route as it works to maintain supplies following the effective shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz, a person familiar with the matter said.
The pipeline, which runs across the kingdom to the Red Sea, has become central to efforts to keep exports moving. Oil shipments are now being rerouted to Yanbu, where tankers are loading crude for international markets, offering a crucial alternative at a time when the main passage has been disrupted, Bloomberg reported.
According to the person cited by the agency, crude shipments from Yanbu have reached about 5 million barrels a day.
In addition, between 700,000 and 900,000 barrels a day of refined products are being exported. Of the total volume transported via the pipeline, around 2 million barrels a day is directed to domestic refineries.
Though, even at full capacity, the route does not fully replace the volumes previously shipped through Hormuz, which handled roughly 15 million barrels a day before the war, the availability of this alternative has helped limit the extent of price increases compared to earlier supply disruptions.
Market concerns are now shifting towards the Red Sea after Yemen’s Houthis said they are entering the war. While there has been no indication of plans to target vessels passing through the Red Sea or the Bab El-Mandeb strait, the group has in the past threatened shipping in the region using drones and missiles.
Saudi Arabia had long prepared for a scenario in which Hormuz could be shut. Its contingency plan was put into action within hours of the first US and Israeli strikes on Iran, with flows along the east-west pipeline increasing steadily since then.
The pipeline stretches more than 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) from oil-producing regions in the east of the country to Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. It was originally developed in response to risks highlighted during the 1980s Iran-Iraq war, when tanker attacks disrupted movement through the Strait, though the current situation has led to a near-closure on a scale not seen before.
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