Saudi Arabia repairs East-West oil pipeline after war damage

Saudi Arabia has restored its East-West oil pipeline to full capacity after damage linked to the Iran conflict disrupted flows across the kingdom.

Repairs to the pipeline, which runs from oil fields in Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, were completed after attacks reduced throughput, making the desert route a critical alternative that allows exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

The restoration adds about 7 million barrels back to state-owned Saudi Aramco’s daily oil shipments, strengthening its ability to fulfill orders to global markets even as security risks persist in Gulf shipping lanes.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia’s crude shipments to China are set to drop by about half next month to roughly 20 million barrels, down from around 40 million in April, Bloomberg reports.

The decline reflects sharply higher official selling prices and constrained export routes, with some cargoes rerouted via the East-West pipeline to the Red Sea.