Saudi Arabia resumes Yanbu oil loading after pipeline restart

Saudi Arabia has recommenced oil tanker loadings from its Red Sea port of Yanbu following the resumption of operations on the East-West Pipeline, according to trade sources and shipping data. This development is expected to boost the outlook for Middle Eastern oil exports. The resumption of Yanbu loadings, which were suspended earlier in the month after a drone attack on the pipeline, contributed to a decline in global oil prices on Monday.

Saudi Aramco, the state oil giant, notified customers on Monday evening of its scheduled oil loadings from Yanbu, as reported by an Asian refining source. The company began loading cargo from Yanbu late last week. The drone attacks, which Saudi Arabia attributed to the Houthis, had forced the kingdom to shut down the pipeline on September 11, disrupting crude exports from Yanbu. However, operations resumed on the pipeline last Tuesday.

Aramco has not yet provided a comment on the matter. Additionally, oil products are also being loaded at the terminal, as indicated by European Space Agency satellite images captured on September 27, which showed nearly 10 million barrels of crude oil being loaded at Yanbu and Al Muajjiz, a terminal south of Yanbu. TankerTrackers.com, a vessel-tracking firm, reported observing 40 tankers loading at these terminals, regardless of their activity or proximity to the terminals.

Trade sources separately estimated crude loadings from Yanbu at approximately two million barrels per day since last week, while the pipeline's throughput is about 2 million barrels per day, according to an industry source. The Kpler industry source suggests that pipeline throughput may increase to between 3 million and 4 million barrels per day in the coming days. It is expected that a full return to pre-attack rates of roughly 5.5 million barrels per day could take another month.

The resumption of crude loading at Yanbu also contributed to a rise in crude inventories at the terminal by roughly 1 million barrels on September 22, as reported by Kpler, for the first time since the pipeline attack. The restart of crude loading at Yanbu has added to signs of increasing Middle Eastern oil shipments following a recovery in exports via the Strait of Hormuz.