Saudi Arabia Restores East-West Pipeline to Full Capacity

Saudi Arabia’s energy minister, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman, announced that the East-West Pipeline has fully restored its capacity to 5.8 million barrels per day (bpd). The update came during a panel discussion at the GCC 2026 Forum in Manama, Bahrain, on Tuesday. The minister highlighted the swift recovery of the pipeline after a major attack last month, noting that operations resumed within five or six days of the incident.

The 1,200km pipeline, also known as the Petroline, connects Saudi Arabia’s eastern oil fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. This route allows the kingdom to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, which has been largely inaccessible since the outbreak of the US-Israel war on Iran in late February. The pipeline’s maximum capacity is 7 million bpd, though actual flows had been lower in recent months due to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi group.

The Saudi Ministry of Energy had initially shut down the pipeline as a precaution following the attack in early September. Specialized teams were deployed to secure the pipeline and assess its safety. Since the disruption of oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia has been rerouting about 4 million bpd, or roughly 4 percent of global supply, to Yanbu via the East-West Pipeline.