Saudi Arabia is pushing full force ahead with a strategic overhaul of its oil export infrastructure. With the Strait of Hormuz closed, Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announced plans to raise the East-West Pipeline's throughput capacity from the current 7 million barrels per day to 10 million barrels per day within two to three years, an increase of 43%.
The expansion plan was unveiled at the WPC Energy Congress held in Riyadh. Since the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the pipeline has become the core channel for Saudi crude exports, with roughly 4 million barrels per day currently being transshipped through the Red Sea port of Yanbu. Yet this strategic artery is not invulnerable — on September 11, Saudi Arabia blamed a drone attack by Iraqi militia forces for forcing the pipeline to shut down.
The pipeline disruption dealt a direct blow to market supply. The energy minister said that as of October 6, pipeline flows had recovered to 5.8 million barrels per day, still 1.2 million barrels below the current maximum design capacity of 7 million barrels per day. At the same event, Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser said the company is studying additional crude export routes and expanding its overseas storage capacity.
The pipeline becomes the export lifeline after the Hormuz closure
Stretching 740 miles and also known as the "Petroline," the pipeline links Saudi Arabia's eastern oil fields with the Red Sea port of Yanbu, and quickly escalated from a supplementary route to a main export artery after the Strait of Hormuz was closed. According to Zawya, Saudi Arabia has used the pipeline to divert about 4 million barrels per day of crude away from Hormuz for export through Yanbu.
Media reports had previously tracked single-day flows on the pipeline reaching a historic peak of 7 million barrels per day. The newly announced expansion target means Saudi Arabia will add another 3 million barrels per day of throughput capacity on top of the existing base, at which point a single overland pipeline's capacity would exceed the daily output of most major oil-producing countries.
Alternative routes also face security threats
The plan to bypass Hormuz is far from trouble-free. After crude leaves Yanbu, it still must pass through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to reach major Asian markets, and this chokepoint faces the threat of the Houthis. According to reports, the Iran-backed Houthi forces in Yemen publicly declared in July this year that they would block Saudi tanker traffic through the strait.
This means that even if the East-West Pipeline expansion is completed on schedule, Saudi Arabia's export supply chain will still face persistent geopolitical risks along the Red Sea segment. For Asian buyers dependent on Middle Eastern crude supplies, the security of alternative shipping routes will be an important variable in assessing supply stability.
Saudi Arabia stresses energy resilience as Aramco eyes diversified layout
At the WPC Energy Congress, Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman laid out a systematic account of Saudi Arabia's energy resilience. He said energy resilience "must be measured not only by the ability to maintain, repair, reroute, substitute and recover, but also by the ability to keep supplying under pressure."
Amin Nasser added further at the strategic level that Saudi Aramco is coordinating with the Ministry of Energy to study new crude export routes while expanding its overseas strategic storage footprint. He also said the company is using cutting-edge technology to strengthen facility inspections and accelerating repairs to damaged facilities.
Those remarks show that Saudi Arabia is incorporating the building of capacity to withstand geopolitical shocks into a long-term strategic framework, with the pipeline expansion just one component of that multi-layered layout.
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