Saudi Arabia Pushes East-West Pipeline Toward Capacity Amid Hormuz Disruption

By Giulia Petroni

Saudi Arabia is ramping up crude flows through its East-West pipeline network and relying on storage facilities to meet customer demand during one of the largest disruptions to the region's energy flows in years.

The pipeline--a 750-mile system that transports crude from the Persian Gulf to export terminals on the Red Sea--carried about 2.8 million barrels a day before the Strait of Hormuz crisis stemming from the war in Iran. State oil giant Aramco is now moving to push flows toward its 7 million-barrel-a-day capacity as vessels shift loading operations to the western coast.

"We should be reaching capacity in a couple of days," Aramco Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser said Tuesday in an earnings call. "We are at more than double where we started." The pipeline is used to transport Arab Light and some Arab Extra Light crude grades.

The abrupt nature of the crisis forced a rapid reshuffling of shipping logistics. "This crisis happened all of a sudden and tankers need to reposition to the west coast for loading," Nasser said, adding that tanker movements and adjustments determine how quickly the company can reach full capacity.

The East-West pipeline network is also tied to domestic refining hubs in the region. Close to 2 million barrels a day of the pipeline's capacity feeds refineries on the west coast, which remain fully operational and supply both Saudi domestic markets and international buyers of refined fuels.

Asked how quickly the company could restore output to around 10 million barrels a day once the Strait of Hormuz reopens, Nasser said Aramco could increase production "in days, not weeks."

The company also has ample spare capacity of more than 2 million barrels a day and can count on a network of crude storage sites both inside Saudi Arabia and overseas that it says gives it flexibility to meet customer demand. Nasser declined to disclose total storage volumes.

However, prolonged disruptions to the Strait of Hormuz could have far-reaching consequences. Aramco said inventories are eroding and being drawn down faster as shipments from the region are curtailed, at a time when global spare capacity remains extremely low.

"There would be catastrophic consequences for the world's oil markets the longer the disruption goes on," Nasser said. "While we have faced disruptions in the past, this one by far is the biggest crisis the region's oil and gas industry has faced."

Write to to Giulia Petroni at giulia.petroni@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 10, 2026 07:35 ET (11:35 GMT)