The 1,200-km East-West Pipeline has carried Middle Eastern oil as the strait was largely shut
“It’s still a detailed assessment, but I think it will be measured in days,” Wright said on the sidelines of a G20 energy meeting in Houston. PHOTO: REUTERS
Crude oil should be flowing through Saudi Arabia’s vital East-West pipeline within days, United States Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC on Tuesday, after the kingdom was forced to temporarily close it following attacks by Iran-aligned groups.
“It’s still a detailed assessment, but I think it will be measured in days,” Wright said on the sidelines of a G20 energy meeting in Houston. He said Saudi Arabia is taking steps to move more oil out of the Strait of Hormuz with assistance from the US military.
The 1,200-kilometre East-West Pipeline running across the Arabian Peninsula has served as the main route out for global supplies of Middle Eastern oil for the past six months while the strait between Iran and Oman has been largely shut by the US war on Iran.
The pipeline had been moving 4-5 million barrels per day, amounting to 4% to 5% of global supply, sparing Saudi Arabia the brunt of the disruption that has crippled other Gulf oil and gas exporters.
Washington has so far resisted Saudi requests for direct military intervention beyond intelligence support, three sources told Reuters on Monday. US President Donald Trump said over the weekend he had spoken with the Saudi crown prince and that Iran-aligned Houthis, who have launched missile and drone attacks on the kingdom from Yemen, had also contacted Washington urging it to stay out of the conflict.
Earlier, Saudi Arabia informed its European customers that late-September crude oil cargoes will be cancelled, due to the East-West pipeline being shut after last week’s attacks and Yemen’s Houthis taking over the entire Red Sea coast, per three sources to Reuters.
Yanbu had five to seven days of crude stocks left for export when the East-West line went down, per industry sources on Saturday, and cancelling late-September cargoes means Riyadh does not expect the line back before they run out.
Europe has been taking Saudi crude through Yanbu because Hormuz has been closed since spring. On top of the pipeline, the Houthis appear to have struck the YASREF refinery at that same port this morning.
Meanwhile, oil loadings at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea port of Yanbu have been suspended, days after the world’s biggest crude exporter closed its East-West pipeline due to an attack by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthis, shipping industry sources said on Tuesday. Saudi Aramco, which has increased use of the Yanbu terminal since the US war with Iran began on February 28, declined to comment.
