Saudi Arabia Restarts Red Sea Crude Oil Loadings Amid Pipeline Recovery
Saudi Arabia has restarted crude oil loadings at the Yanbu port on the Red Sea after the East-West pipeline resumed partial service. The pipeline was shut down for two weeks following drone attacks that damaged pumping stations on September 10.
The East-West onshore pipeline helps the Kingdom bypass the Strait of Hormuz, but full resumption of flows of about 4 million barrels per day would likely take weeks. However, crude oil loadings at Yanbu have been around 2 million bpd since last week, according to separate estimates by two trade sources.
Aramco notified customers late on Monday what the loading schedule at Yanbu would look like in October. Satellite imagery captured over the Red Sea shows Saudi Arabia loading nearly 10 million barrels of crude oil at Yanbu and Al Muajjiz, TankerTrackers.com said.