RIYADH, September 29, 2026 (DAILYNWZ) — Saudi Arabia has resumed crude oil loadings from its Red Sea port of Yanbu after restarting the East-West Pipeline, easing pressure on Middle Eastern oil exports as shipments through the Strait of Hormuz remain severely disrupted by the US-Iran war.
Saudi Aramco notified customers on Monday evening of its October loading schedule from Yanbu, according to an Asian refining source, while a refinery loaded a cargo at the port late last week. Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The East-West Pipeline was shut on September 11 after drone attacks that Saudi Arabia blamed on Iraqi militias, forcing a halt to crude exports from Yanbu. Pipeline operations resumed last Tuesday, and two trade sources estimated that crude loadings from the port had reached about 2 million barrels per day since last week.
Satellite imagery also points to a broader return of activity. Tanker-tracking firm TankerTrackers.com said European Space Agency imagery from September 27 showed Saudi Arabia loading nearly 10 million barrels of crude at Yanbu and the nearby Al Muajjiz terminal.
“We also observed refined-product loadings,” the firm said in a post on X, adding that it had visually identified 40 tankers, regardless of their activity or proximity to the terminals.
The restart could provide an important alternative route for Gulf oil producers while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains constrained. The waterway carried roughly one-fifth of global oil supply before the conflict.
Kpler estimates the East-West Pipeline is currently moving about 2.65 million barrels per day and expects throughput to rise to between 3 million and 4 million bpd in the coming days. A full return to the pre-attack rate of about 5.5 million bpd could still take another month, the shipping-data firm said.
Kpler also estimated that crude inventories at Yanbu rose by about 1 million barrels on September 22, the first increase since the attack, suggesting that restored pipeline flows were beginning to rebuild stocks available for export.
Oil movements through Hormuz have also recovered from their lowest levels. Kpler estimated seven-day average crude transits through the strait, including ship-to-ship transfers in the Gulf of Oman, at 9 million bpd through September 22, up from 2.2 million bpd in late July but still only about 60% of the 2025 average.
With additional volumes from Yanbu and Fujairah, Middle Eastern crude exports have recovered to just under 80% of their pre-conflict level, according to Kpler.
Egypt’s Sidi Kerir terminal also resumed crude loadings on September 22 after a 10-day halt. Tankers, however, remain queued offshore as restrictions continue to limit access for much of the commercial fleet, Kpler said.