Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, a critical artery for global oil supply, is now operating at its full capacity of 7 million barrels a day, a key milestone in the kingdom’s contingency plan to bypass the near-total closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Running over 1,000 kilometers across the Arabian Peninsula from eastern oil fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, the pipeline has become a lifeline amid escalating regional tensions. Of the 7 million barrels transported daily, 5 million are crude exports shipped from Yanbu, while 700,000 to 900,000 barrels are refined products. The remaining 2 million barrels feed Saudi refineries, ensuring domestic needs are met.
This rerouting, activated within hours of initial US and Israeli strikes on Iran, only partially mitigates the loss of the Hormuz route, which previously handled 15 million barrels a day of crude shipments. Still, the pipeline’s output has helped prevent oil prices from spiking to historic crisis levels seen in past supply shocks.
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A new threat looms on the horizon with Yemen’s Houthis declaring their entry into the conflict. While no direct attacks on Red Sea shipping have been confirmed, their history of targeting vessels with drones and missiles in the area raises concerns for tankers navigating through the Bab El-Mandeb strait.
Saudi Arabia, long positioned as the world’s oil supplier of last resort, built this pipeline as a safeguard during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, when ship attacks in the Strait first exposed vulnerabilities. That foresight now underpins its ability to maintain exports, with Yanbu emerging as a critical hub. The kingdom’s daily crude shipments from the port stand as a testament to its commitment to global energy stability, even as geopolitical risks intensify.
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