The Saudi East-West pipeline reached a daily capacity of 7 million barrels during the Strait of Hormuz disruption.

Investing.com — According to Bloomberg, citing informed sources, Saudi Arabia’s critical oil route bypassing the Strait of Hormuz—the East-West crude oil pipeline—is currently operating at full capacity of about 7 million barrels per day.

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This increase in capacity comes as ongoing conflicts in the Middle East have led to actual disruptions in shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, forcing Gulf oil producers to seek alternative export routes. Saudi Arabia is increasingly relying on this pipeline to redirect crude oil to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, where tankers are currently loading oil for global markets.

According to Bloomberg, exports via Yanbu have surged to about 5 million barrels per day, with an additional 700,000 to 900,000 barrels per day of refined products also being shipped. Of the total transported through this pipeline, approximately 2 million barrels per day are destined for domestic refineries in Saudi Arabia.

While this rerouting helps alleviate supply pressures, it can only partially offset the disruption caused by the near closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which previously handled about 15 million barrels of crude oil per day. Nevertheless, this alternative route has played a critical role in preventing oil prices from soaring to extreme levels seen during previous supply shocks.

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