Petroline
Saudi Aramco's 1,200km East-West Pipeline; now carries 92% of Saudi seaborne crude, mostly to Asia.
Saudi Aramco restarted Petroline on 22 September 2026, twelve days after drones hit its pump stations. Flows are rebuilding towards about 4 million barrels a day, against 5.5 million before the attack and a design capacity of 7 million.
Last refreshed: 1 October 2026 · Appears in 1 active topic
If Iran shuts Hormuz and Ansar Allah closes Bab al-Mandeb, is there any route left for Saudi oil?
Timeline for Petroline
Aramco restarts Petroline but not fully
Iran Conflict 2026Remained offline after the drone strike
Iran Conflict 2026: Aramco cuts Europe off for OctoberMentioned in: Iraq reopens its last Iran crossing
Iran Conflict 2026Riyadh holds fire at Baghdad's request
Iran Conflict 2026Iraqi forces seize the launch platform itself
Iran Conflict 2026Background
Petroline, formally the East-West Crude Oil Pipeline, is Saudi Aramco's 1,200-kilometre crude line from the Eastern Province oilfields to Yanbu on the Red Sea. The Saudi energy ministry puts its nameplate capacity at 7 million barrels a day. A parallel products pipeline, IPSA, runs the same corridor.
It was commissioned in 1981, during the Iran-Iraq War, when tanker traffic through the strait of Hormuz came under fire. The purpose has not changed: it moves Saudi crude to a market without crossing the strait, which is what makes it The Kingdom's single most consequential piece of export infrastructure rather than simply a long pipe. The same logic produced the Emirati line to Fujairah, built later along the same reasoning.
Petroline's capacity covers roughly half of normal Hormuz flow, so the strait still matters to the oil market as a whole. Crude loaded at Yanbu must still leave the Red Sea through Bab al-Mandeb, where shipping has been attacked before. A pipeline around one chokepoint ends at another.
Drones shut the line for twelve days
Drones struck the pump stations on the morning of 10 September 2026 and the energy ministry shut the pipeline, naming no damaged segment, no volume and nobody to blame. With the line down, The Kingdom had no spare route, and it covered the gap through the chokepoint the pipeline exists to avoid: loadings at Ras Tanura ran at 6.5 million barrels a day against 1.5 million in early September.
Aramco restarted it on 22 September, rebuilding towards about 4 million barrels a day against 5.5 million before the strike. Iraqi investigators traced the launches to Maysan province, seized a launch platform on 13 September and sacked two provincial security chiefs. Riyadh said it would not retaliate, at Baghdad's request, and kept the right to act later.
One terminal now carries nearly everything
The pipeline stopped being an emergency measure some time in 2026. Restored to its full 7 million barrels a day on 12 April, it carried enough of The Kingdom's exports that by June Yanbu was handling 92% of Saudi seaborne crude, about 3.75 million barrels a day. Some 62% of that oil was bound for India, Japan, China and South Korea.
So the line changed both the route and the customer. It also concentrated the risk: one terminal on the Red Sea now carries almost all of Saudi Arabia's export capacity, and everything loaded there still has to pass Bab al-Mandeb. Riyadh pressed Washington to end the Hormuz blockade in April precisely because a move against that second strait would cancel the bypass in a single decision.
What is the Petroline pipeline and how does it help Saudi Arabia avoid Hormuz?
Can Saudi Arabia export oil if the Strait of Hormuz is blocked?
Why was the Petroline pipeline built?
What is the Bab al-Mandeb risk to Saudi oil exports?
What is the Petroline and how does it bypass the Strait of Hormuz?
Can Saudi Arabia export oil without going through the Strait of Hormuz?
When was the Petroline built and why?
What is Petroline?
How much of Saudi Arabia's crude exports go through Yanbu now?
Why was Petroline built?
Is Petroline vulnerable to disruption?
