Saudi resumes Yanbu oil loadings after East-West Pipeline restart

SINGAPORE, Sept 29 (Reuters) — Saudi Arabia has resumed oil loadings from its Red Sea port of Yanbu after restarting operations on the East-West Pipeline, according to trade sources and shipping data, improving the outlook for oil exports from the Middle East. Drone attacks, which Saudi Arabia blamed on Iraqi militias, forced the kingdom to shut the pipeline on September 11, halting crude exports from Yanbu. Pipeline operations resumed last Tuesday. State oil giant Saudi Aramco notified customers on Monday evening of its October loading schedule from Yanbu, an Asian refining source said.

The refiner loaded a cargo from Yanbu late last week. Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The resumption of loading at Yanbu is set to bolster crude exports from the Middle East, where the US war with Iran has throttled shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, the conduit for one-fifth of the world's oil supply before the conflict. com wrote in a post on X on Tuesday.

Al Muajjiz is a terminal south of Yanbu. "We also observed refined-product loadings. " Two trade sources separately estimated crude loadings from Yanbu at about 2 million barrels per day since last week. 65 million bpd and expects it to climb to between 3 million and 4 million bpd in the coming days.

5 million bpd could still take another month, it said in a note on Monday. Crude inventories at the Yanbu terminal rose by roughly 1 million barrels on September 22, the first build since the attack, according to Kpler. 2 million bpd and equivalent to roughly 60% of the 2025 average. Adding net gains from Yanbu and Fujairah lifts Middle East crude exports to just under 80% of pre-conflict levels.

Crude oil loadings at Egypt's Sidi Kerir resumed on September 22 after a 10-day hiatus, but tankers remain queued offshore as restrictions continue to limit access for much of the commercial fleet, Kpler said in the note. com;)