Saudi Arabia resumed crude oil loadings at the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, following the restart of the East-West pipeline at partial capacity, Reuters reported on Tuesday, citing ship tracking data and market sources.
Saudi Arabia had halted operations of the overland East-West pipeline for two weeks, following drone attacks on September 10, which caused damage to pumping stations.
The pipeline, which allows the Kingdom to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, returned to partial operation last Thursday. However, the complete restoration of flows, which amount to approximately 4 million barrels per day, is expected to take several weeks.
Loadings resume at Yanbu
The port of Yanbu and the Al Muajjiz terminal, south of Yanbu, have now returned to loading crude oil cargoes, offering a breather to the oil market of the Middle East.
Crude loadings at Yanbu stand at approximately 2 million barrels per day since last week, according to separate estimates by two market sources speaking to Reuters.
Aramco, the state-owned oil giant of Saudi Arabia, informed its customers late Monday regarding the loading program at Yanbu in October, according to a source at an Asian refinery speaking to Reuters.
Satellite images captured on Sunday over the Red Sea show Saudi Arabia loading nearly 10 million barrels of crude oil at Yanbu and Al Muajjiz, according to TankerTrackers.com.
«Overall, we visually identified 40 tankers, regardless of their activity or their proximity to these specific terminals», the ship tracking firm stated in a post on X.
More oil to international markets
The resumption of loadings at Yanbu and the transport of Saudi crude outside the Strait of Hormuz is expected to increase global oil supply, provided there is no escalation of threats by the Houthis against Saudi tankers in the Red Sea.
Crude exports from the Middle East are estimated to have recovered so far in September to approximately 12.8 million barrels per day, according to Kpler.
This recovery occurred as Saudi Arabia redirected oil flows from the west to the east coast following the shutdown of the pipeline.
Aramco has also loaded crude oil onto tankers in the Gulf of Oman via ship-to-ship transfers.
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