Saudi Arabia resumes Yanbu oil loading after pipeline restart

Dawn reported that Saudi Arabia has resumed oil tanker loadings at Yanbu, its Red Sea port, after restarting the East-West Pipeline, citing trade sources and shipping data. The pipeline had been shut on September 11 after drone attacks that the kingdom attributed to the Houthis, which halted crude exports from the port.

Satellite pictures from the European Space Agency taken on September 27 indicated close to 10 million barrels of crude had been loaded at Yanbu and at Al Muajjiz, a terminal to the south, according to the vessel-tracking firm TankerTrackers.com. The firm also said refined products were being loaded, and it visually identified 40 tankers around the terminals.

Estimates from two trade sources put crude shipments out of Yanbu near two million barrels a day since the previous week. Pipeline flows remain far lower than the 7m bpd capacity, with Kpler putting throughput at 2.65m bpd and an industry source citing about 2m bpd. Kpler expects flows to climb to 3m to 4m bpd within days, though getting back to around 5.5m bpd, the level before the attack, may need another month.