Saudi Arabia's East-West Pipeline Hits Full Capacity at 7 Million Barrels Per Day, Bypassing Strait of Hormuz

Saudi Arabia's critical East-West pipeline, a key alternative route for oil exports that bypasses the volatile Strait of Hormuz, is now operating at its maximum capacity of 7 million barrels per day. This represents a dramatic surge from pre-war levels of roughly 1.5 million barrels per day, signaling a major strategic shift in the kingdom's export logistics. Concurrently, crude loadings from the UAE's Fujairah terminal on the Gulf of Oman have also reached capacity, indicating a region-wide push to mitigate the risk of a potential chokepoint closure at the Strait.

The pipeline, also known as the Abqaiq-Yanbu pipeline, transports crude from the kingdom's eastern fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu. According to a Bloomberg source familiar with the Saudi oil industry, crude exports via Yanbu have now reached approximately 5 million barrels per day. The kingdom is also exporting an additional 700,000 to 900,000 barrels per day of refined products from the western terminus. Of the total 7 million barrels per day flowing through the pipeline, about 2 million barrels are destined for domestic Saudi refineries.

This operational milestone underscores the intense pressure on Gulf energy exporters to secure their supply chains against geopolitical instability. The Strait of Hormuz remains the world's most important oil transit corridor, and its potential disruption has long been a primary strategic vulnerability for the region. The full utilization of these bypass routes, including the Saudi pipeline and the UAE's Fujairah port, demonstrates a tangible and rapid escalation in contingency planning. It moves substantial volumes of crude and products outside the Persian Gulf, fundamentally altering the regional energy security landscape and reducing immediate leverage for any actor threatening the Strait.