Saudi pipeline rebound steadies oil route

Saudi Arabia has restored full pumping capacity on its East-West pipeline to about seven million barrels a day, reactivating a strategic export artery that has become central to global crude flows during the disruption of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The Ministry of Energy said operational and technical teams brought the line back to full strength within days of attacks that had cut throughput and damaged other parts of the kingdom’s energy system.

The announcement carries weight far beyond the kingdom’s domestic energy network. The East-West pipeline, which carries crude from the eastern producing region to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, has served as Saudi Arabia’s only crude export route while Hormuz traffic has been constrained by the regional conflict. That made the damage sustained earlier this week a direct concern for oil importers, refiners and traders already grappling with volatile freight, insurance and supply conditions.

Saudi authorities said on April 9 that attacks on energy infrastructure had reduced oil production capacity by around 600,000 barrels a day and cut East-West pipeline throughput by about 700,000 barrels a day. One pumping station on the line was hit, while separate strikes affected the Manifa and Khurais oilfields. The same official assessment said the attacks also disrupted operations at major oil, gas, refining, petrochemical and electricity facilities in Riyadh, the Eastern Province and Yanbu Industrial City, underlining the breadth of the blow to the kingdom’s industrial base.

Sunday’s update suggests the pipeline recovery has moved faster than the broader restoration of output. The ministry said the affected volumes at Manifa, where production had been reduced by about 300,000 barrels a day, had been recovered. Work is still under way at Khurais, however, where another 300,000 barrels a day of capacity had been knocked offline. That split picture matters for the market: export infrastructure is back, but upstream restoration is not yet complete across the board.

Saudi officials framed the rapid repair as a demonstration of resilience and a move aimed at reinforcing supply reliability for both domestic users and overseas buyers. That message is likely directed as much at customers in Asia and Europe as at traders watching for signs that Gulf producers can keep barrels moving despite a wider security crisis. Reuters reported in late March that the pipeline had already been running at its full seven million barrel-a-day capacity as customers rerouted cargoes away from Hormuz, with crude exports from Yanbu on the Red Sea climbing to about five million barrels a day.

The wider backdrop remains fragile. Reuters reported on April 10 that analysts now expect the Iran war shock to flip the global oil market into a supply deficit this year, a sharp reversal from earlier forecasts for oversupply. The conflict has choked flows through Hormuz, a passageway for about a fifth of global oil consumption, while attacks on production sites and transport infrastructure have compounded the supply hit. Analysts surveyed by Reuters said demand could outstrip supply by an average of 750,000 barrels a day this year, with the tightest deficit expected in the second quarter.

That helps explain why the Saudi pipeline restoration is being treated as more than a technical repair. It offers partial relief to a market shaken by fears of prolonged disruption, but it does not remove the underlying risks. Reuters also reported that around 136 million barrels of crude and products were stuck in the Gulf because of the conflict, while insurers, shipping firms and traders continued to wrestle with sanctions risk, transit uncertainty and questions over safe passage. Even where physical capacity exists, commercial normalisation can lag behind mechanical recovery.

There are also human and operational costs behind the headline figures. Saudi state media said one member of industrial security staff was killed and seven employees were wounded in the attacks. The strikes hit refining assets including SATORP in Jubail, the Ras Tanura refinery, the SAMREF refinery in Yanbu and the Riyadh refinery, as well as processing facilities in Ju’aymah. The damage highlighted how vulnerable integrated energy systems remain when conflict extends beyond military targets and into the industrial networks that underpin production, transport and export.