Saudi East-West pipeline resumes operations
Shafaq News- Riyadh
Saudi Arabia on Tuesday restarted its East-West oil pipeline after a nine-day shutdown caused by drone attacks, restoring a key route used to bypass disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz, three sources briefed on the matter told Reuters.
The pipeline was initially operating at a low rate, two sources said, while Saudi Aramco was seeking to restore flows to about 4 million barrels per day (bpd), around 4% of global oil supply. One security source estimated that a full resumption could take weeks.
The September 13 attacks had shut the pipeline and halted crude loadings at the Red Sea port of Yanbu. Since oil flows through the Strait of Hormuz were disrupted following the US-Israeli war on Iran, Saudi Arabia has used the route to move about 4 million bpd to Yanbu.
Crude supply to Aramco’s Red Sea refineries will also resume, with a cargo bound for China scheduled to load at Yanbu later on Tuesday. Tankers were being moved to Egypt’s Port Said for ship-to-ship transfers and also to Sidi Kerir ahead of renewed Saudi loadings, two trading sources told the agency.
The restart helped drive selling in global oil markets, traders said, with Brent crude futures falling more than $2 a barrel to their lowest level since September 8.
