Saudi Arabia Crude Exports Reach Seven-Month High Despite Pipeline Disruption

Saudi Arabia’s crude oil shipments surged to their highest level in approximately seven months during September, defying expectations amid ongoing conflict with Iranian-backed militants and a critical pipeline outage, according to data from trade intelligence firm Kpler.

The kingdom is currently exporting 6 million barrels per day, a figure that matches its monthly average for 2025. This represents a nearly 80% increase from the 3.4 million barrels per day shipped in August.

The ramp-up comes after Riyadh was forced to close the East-West pipeline earlier this month. The infrastructure, which serves as a vital alternative route allowing Saudi exports to bypass the volatile Strait of Hormuz, suffered damage from a drone attack launched from Iraq.

Previously, Saudi Arabia had redirected the majority of its crude from its eastern production regions through the pipeline to the Red Sea terminal at Yanbu to avoid Iranian attacks on tankers in the strait. Following the pipeline shutdown, the kingdom has shifted exports back through the Strait of Hormuz. This rerouting has been facilitated by a U.S. military-established shipping lane along Oman’s coast, a route other Gulf states have utilized for months despite continued risks.

Matt Smith, director of commodity research at Kpler, noted that while the export increase is partly a consequence of the pipeline outage, it also indicates growing confidence in using the Strait of Hormuz due to rising traffic volumes.

Data indicates that oil exports through Hormuz reached a seven-day average of 13.2 million barrels per day on Wednesday, though this remains below the pre-conflict level of approximately 17 million barrels per day.

The closure of the East-West pipeline initially caused Brent crude to spike to nearly $110 per barrel. However, prices have since retreated as investors grew more confident that the disruption would be less severe than initially feared.

While industry sources told Reuters that the East-West pipeline restarted at low volumes earlier in the week and is gradually ramping up, Saudi authorities have not publicly confirmed a full restart. Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser addressed the situation in an interview with Nikkei on Thursday, stating that “temporary interruptions” to oil infrastructure typically last only “a few days, not weeks or months,” though he declined to provide specific details on the current status of the pipeline.