Saudi Arabia has redirected oil exports to Gulf terminals after an attack closed the East-West Pipeline, loading 14 million barrels on September 20.
Saudi Arabia has redirected its crude oil exports back to Gulf terminals following the closure of the East-West Pipeline due to an attack. According to TankerTrackers.com data, approximately 14 million barrels of crude oil were loaded onto seven VLCCs around Ras Tanura on September 20.
Calculations based on satellite data from JP Morgan indicate that the daily average of Saudi oil exiting through the Strait of Hormuz has reached 2.9 million barrels over the last six days. This amount was around 700,000 barrels per day in August. Vortexa has also calculated that Saudi Arabia's total loadings at Gulf terminals have averaged 3.7 million barrels per day since September 12.
The reason for this change is the drone attacks on September 13, which incapacitated the East-West pipeline that transports crude oil from the eastern part of the country to the Yanbu terminal on the Red Sea. While loadings at Yanbu were halted, some European cargoes were canceled; sales to Asia were redirected to the Ras Tanura and Juaymah terminals.
It is reported that Aramco is also marketing approximately 60 million barrels to be delivered to customers via ship-to-ship transfer off the coast of Oman’s Sohar Port from Ras Tanura. This model separates the risky strait passage from main ocean transport with short shuttle voyages; however, it also requires additional tankers, STS equipment, insurance, and coordination.
Aramco did not comment on the data. Satellite and AIS analyses should be interpreted as high-reliability market estimates rather than definitive port statistics, as figures may be incomplete due to vessels turning off their transponders.
Source: SeaNews Türkiye
