By Summer Said

Saudi Arabia started loading oil crude Sunday from the Red Sea port of Yanbu after it completed partial repairs and tests on the East-West pipeline, following drone strikes from Iraq earlier this month, people familiar with the matter said.

Only a few tankers were loading at Yanbu Monday, while the pipeline is currently operating at a throughput rate of around 3.5 million barrels a day, the people said. Some of the current output will be destined for domestic refineries, they added.

Stretching 750 miles across Saudi Arabia from the kingdom's oil-producing heartland on the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, the East-West pipeline has become a vital wartime artery, allowing Saudi crude to reach global markets without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. It was built in the early 1980s, when the Iran-Iraq War threatened shipping in the Persian Gulf.

The pipeline can carry up to 7 million barrels a day-about 2 million for domestic Saudi refiners and the rest for export-but had never operated at full capacity for an extended period before the war.

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September 28, 2026 12:53 ET (16:53 GMT)