Saudi Arabia restarts East-West oil pipeline as Brent crude drops to $97 a barrel
Saudi Arabia began pumping crude at a reduced rate through its 1,200-kilometer East-West Pipeline on Tuesday, easing global supply concerns after drone strikes shut the transit link on 13 September.
Pipeline resumption and infrastructure repairs
Saudi Arabia resumed operations on its 1,200-kilometer East-West Pipeline on 22 September 2026, restarting crude oil transport across the Arabian Peninsula at a low initial rate. The pipeline had remained shut since drone strikes on 13 September disabled three pumping stations along the line, with Station 11 sustaining severe destruction. Satellite imagery recorded on 17 September indicated that emergency repair crews installed two aboveground bypass pipes around Station 11, reinforcing the conduit behind an earthen barrier. The pipeline transports crude from Persian Gulf fields directly to the Red Sea terminal at Yanbu, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. State energy company Saudi Aramco expects the process of restoring throughput to the pre-attack level of 4 million barrels per day to take seven weeks.
- August Hormuz exports
- 0.7 million bpd
- Mid-September Hormuz flow
- 3 million bpd
- Pre-attack pipeline throughput
- 4 million bpd
- Pipeline maximum capacity
- 7 million bpd
Market price drops and European supply cuts
Confirmation of the pipeline restart reduced global crude prices, with Brent crude dropping over 2% to trade between $97 and $98 per barrel after reaching nearly $109 per barrel the previous week. West Texas Intermediate crude fell to approximately $90 per barrel on Tuesday. Maritime data company Kpler estimated that a monthlong outage on the conduit would have removed 120 million barrels of crude from international circulation. While flows resumed toward Yanbu, Saudi Aramco informed at least two European refiners and broader European contract holders that it will allocate zero crude to them for October delivery. In the United States, retail fuel costs remain elevated, with the AAA motor club reporting national average prices of $4.48 per gallon for gasoline and $6.53 per gallon for diesel.
- Drone attacks strike pumping stations along the 1,200-kilometer line, halting crude flows to Yanbu
- Satellite images capture emergency bypass pipe construction around destroyed Pump Station 11
- Saudi Aramco resumes pumping at a reduced initial rate as Brent crude drops to $97
Maritime shipping routes and diplomatic contacts
The temporary closure of the Red Sea transit line had forced Saudi Arabia to route larger crude volumes through the Persian Gulf, where shipments passing the Strait of Hormuz averaged 3 million barrels per day last week compared to 700,000 barrels per day in August, according to JPMorgan. Regional transit security was also the subject of diplomatic discussions held in New York on Tuesday during the United Nations General Assembly. US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner held a three-hour meeting with Iranian officials following an address by US President Donald Trump. An Iranian official stated that Tehran could reopen passage through the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the United States withdraws naval pressure and lifts its port blockade.
Production figures and summer export baseline
Official monthly figures from the Joint Organizations Data Initiative showed Saudi crude exports reached 4.125 million barrels per day in July 2026, representing a 3.3% increase over June and the highest level recorded since March. Total crude output in the kingdom increased to 8.135 million barrels per day in July, up from 7.122 million barrels per day in June, while refinery throughput fell slightly to 2.478 million barrels per day. Direct crude burning for power generation decreased by 22,403 barrels per day to 561,097 barrels per day. UBS analyst Giovanni Staunovo noted that export volumes had expanded during the early summer before regional tensions escalated around Red Sea shipping corridors.
Saudi crude and product exports increased in July as regional tensions moderated
