Saudi Arabia’s East-West Pipeline Hits 7 Million Barrels Per Day as Hormuz Closure Enters Fifth Week

Saudi Arabia’s Petroline, the 1,200-kilometer crude pipeline connecting its eastern oil fields to the Red Sea, is now moving oil at its maximum rated capacity of 7 million barrels per day, offering a partial workaround to a Strait of Hormuz blockade that has cut normal traffic by an estimated 90 to 95%.

At full throughput, roughly 2 million bpd feeds Saudi domestic refineries on the west coast. The remaining 5 million bpd moves toward Yanbu for export loading. Ship-tracking data tells a more complicated story.

The five-day rolling average of crude departures from Yanbu sits between 3.66 and 5 million barrels per day, with some peak readings above 4 million. The Yanbu terminal’s nominal loading capacity is estimated at 4 to 4.5 million bpd. Wartime tanker scheduling and tidal windows reduce that figure further in practice.

Saudi Arabia is moving somewhere between 50 and 70% of its pre-war export volumes through this route, according to analyst estimates. The pipeline helps, but it does not make up the full shortfall from Hormuz.

The Strait normally carries roughly 20% of the world’s oil supply. Since U.S. and Israeli military strikes against Iran began in late February, tanker traffic through the waterway has collapsed. Iran has mined sections of the strait in some reports and controls passage for others.

Coordinated strategic reserve releases totaling around 400 million barrels are now underway globally — the largest on record. Analysts at Goldman Sachs and S&P Global have already revised 2026 price forecasts upward. If Hormuz traffic does not recover by mid-April, industry sources warn prices could reach $150 to $200 per barrel in a worst-case scenario.

The UAE’s Habshan-Fujairah pipeline is running a similar bypass operation, providing a secondary outlet for Gulf producers. Together, the two pipelines represent the primary physical alternative to Hormuz for Arabian Peninsula crude exporters.

U.S. retail gasoline averaged between $3.91 and $3.98 per gallon as of late March, with further pressure expected when Monday trading opens. President Trump’s five-day diplomatic deadline for Iran expired around March 28 without a ceasefire or Hormuz agreement. Analysts see no near-term resolution.

Saudi Arabia’s Petroline was rarely operated near full capacity in peacetime. That has changed. It is now one of the most consequential pipelines in the global oil market.