Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline Back Online After Drone Attack

Saudi Arabia has restarted operations at its East-West Pipeline, which was forced to shut down after drone attacks on September 13. The pipeline, which reroutes around 4 million barrels per day, roughly 4% of global supply, from the Strait of Hormuz to Yanbu, is now pumping at a low rate.

The resumption of supplies has driven selling on global oil markets, with Brent crude futures falling by more than $2 a barrel to its lowest since September 8. State oil firm Saudi Aramco was seeking to increase the pumping rate to 4 million barrels per day, but did not specify when this could be achieved.

The pipeline will resume crude supply to Aramco refineries located on the Red Sea coast, with one cargo scheduled to load at Yanbu later on Tuesday. The cargo is bound for China and has been arranged for ship-to-ship transfers in Egypt's Mediterranean Port Said and Sidi Kerir.