Saudi Arabia resumes Yanbu oil loadings after pipeline restart

Aramco notifies customers of October loadings from Yanbu, source says Pipeline throughput could climb to 3 million to 4 million bpd in coming days, Kpler says Drone strikes had forced pipeline to shut on September 11 (Adds context in paragraph 2, another source comment on pipeline throughput in paragraph 11) By Florence Tan and Siyi Liu SINGAPORE, Sept 29 (Reuters) — Saudi Arabia has resumed oil tanker 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.

The resumption of Yanbu loadings, halted earlier this month after a drone attack on the pipeline, weighed on global oil prices on Monday as it added to signs of increased flows from the Middle East, from which the US war with Iran has throttled oil shipments. 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. 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. Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Oil Products Are Also Being Loaded, Tracker Says European Space Agency satellite pictures also pointed to a resumption of loading. 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 according to ship-tracking firm Kpler.

This is far short of the pipeline's 7 million bpd capacity. Throughput will climb to between 3 million and 4 million bpd in the coming days, Kpler said. 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.

The restart of crude loading at Yanbu added to signs of rising Middle East oil shipments following a recovery in exports via the Strait of Hormuz. 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. (Reporting by Florence Tan, Siyi Liu, Trixie Yap in Singapore. com;)