Saudi Arabia Resumes Oil Exports From Yanbu After Pipeline Repair

Saudi Arabia has resumed overseas crude oil shipments from its Red Sea port of Yanbu, according to a Bloomberg report, ending a 17-day halt that had threatened supply to European refiners. The restart of the critical East-West Pipeline follows a shutdown forced by drone strikes earlier this month.

Pipeline Restart Eases Supply Fears

The 1,200-kilometer Petroline was taken offline after drone attacks on September 11 damaged three pumping stations, according to Riyadh. At the time of the incident, the pipeline was transporting approximately 4 million barrels per day (bpd) — roughly 4% of global supply — serving as a key alternative route to the Strait of Hormuz.

The prolonged outage had left some European buyers facing zero allocations under term contracts for the upcoming month. While tanker loadings have now recommenced, a full recovery is not yet complete. Previous estimates from late September suggested that restoring the pipeline to its full operational capacity could take another six to eight weeks.

The current pumping rate has not been publicly disclosed. According to Bloomberg, which cited a person with direct knowledge of the matter, both Saudi Aramco and the kingdom's energy ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

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Market Response and Shifting Export Routes

News of the resumption provided a lift to crude oil prices, with futures trading up 3.76% at $95.88 per barrel in pre-market activity on Monday. However, shares of state-owned Saudi Aramco (2222.SE) slipped 0.77% in Riyadh, suggesting that investors had already partially priced in the pipeline's recovery.

During the 17-day disruption, Saudi Arabia significantly increased its exports through the Strait of Hormuz to compensate for the shortfall. According to data from Kpler cited by CNBC, Saudi crude exports via Hormuz surged to 3.6 million bpd in September, a sharp increase from around 900,000 bpd in August.

This operational shift also points to growing confidence in the security of the strait. Matt Smith, a director at Kpler, told CNBC the ramp-up was a consequence of the outage but also signaled "greater confidence in using the Strait of Hormuz." This view was reinforced by U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright, who noted on September 27 that flows through the strait were recently running at nearly 13 million barrels a day, with one recent day topping 20 million barrels.