Saudi Arabia restarted the East-West pipeline, shut by a drone attack on 13 September, at low flow on 22 September; full capacity will take weeks

According to a report by The National dated 22 September, the 1,200-kilometre East-West pipeline, shut down after drone attacks on 13 September, has been restarted, and crude loadings from the port of Yanbu were reported to be able to resume the same day. According to sources cited by Hydrocarbon Processing, the line is pumping at low flow after the restart and full recovery could take weeks; the target is 4 million barrels a day, equivalent to about 4% of global supply. Aramco did not comment on the restart timetable. According to the same report, traders are positioning tankers at Egypt's Port Said and Sidi Kerir ports for ship-to-ship transfers.

The sources give different measurement points for the price reaction. The National wrote that Brent fell intraday by 2.52% to 97.81 dollars and WTI by 3.11% to 89.50 dollars. Investing.com's historical table shows Brent futures closing 22 September down 1.09% at 99.25 dollars and 23 September up 4.09% at 103.31 dollars; Trading Economics gives 102.92 dollars, up 3.86%, for 23 September. The National also reported that while the line was shut, Saudi Arabia simultaneously loaded 7 supertankers with a total capacity of 14 million barrels from its Gulf terminals.

The shutdown was the result of a series of attacks in which drones launched from Iraq struck the line on 11 September and the Houthis claimed to have targeted Yanbu. The reopening restores the only major Saudi export route that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz, but owing to the low flow and security risk, when Yanbu volumes will return to previous levels could not be verified.