Fresh vessel tracking and satellite imagery indicate that Saudi Arabia has recommenced oil loading operations at the Al Muajjiz crude terminal in the Red Sea port of Yanbu. This development signals that the kingdom's export chain via the Red Sea is being pieced back together following the restoration of the East-West pipeline. Al Muajjiz ranks among the most vital crude-loading facilities in Yanbu and serves as the primary export point for crude delivered to the Red Sea coast through the East-West pipeline. After the pipeline was knocked offline by an attack, loading activity at Yanbu dropped noticeably, prompting Saudi Arabia to divert a greater share of its exports to terminals along the Persian Gulf.
New tanker movement observed at Yanbu
Tracking data reveals that the Saudi-flagged Very Large Crude Carrier (VLCC) AMAD has now listed "YANBU INDUSTRIAL" as its destination. The vessel, with a deadweight tonnage of roughly 298,700 tonnes, falls into the VLCC class. In parallel, the latest information confirms that crude loading operations have resumed at the Al Muajjiz terminal. By contrast, satellite images captured on September 16 showed no VLCC berthed at the main loading positions at Al Muajjiz, even though the terminal typically has the capacity to handle multiple large tankers simultaneously. This resumption of loadings marks a more definitive step in the recovery of Yanbu's export operations.
Earlier, the market had already confirmed that Saudi Arabia had restarted the East-West Pipeline, yet there remains a distinction between the pipeline resuming flows and the export terminal actually reloading vessels. The reactivation of Al Muajjiz indicates that crude has once again entered the physical logistics chain running from the eastern oil fields, through the East-West Pipeline, to the Red Sea for export loading.
East-West Pipeline now operating at reduced rates
Saudi Arabia has restarted the East-West Pipeline, which links the eastern production zones to Yanbu. At present, the pipeline is running at a relatively low throughput level, with repair work still in progress. Stretching approximately 1,200 kilometers, the pipeline has a design capacity of up to 7 million barrels per day. Following severe disruptions to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia had at one point been transferring around 4 million barrels per day of crude to Yanbu via this route, equivalent to roughly 4% of global oil supply. Around September 11, drone strikes hit several pumping stations along the pipeline, halting operations and subsequently interrupting crude loadings at Yanbu. Saudi Arabia has since been restoring partial flows by bypassing the damaged infrastructure and plans to gradually raise pipeline throughput. Earlier reports indicated that at least one cargo loaded from Yanbu was slated for delivery to China.
Saudi Arabia's Red Sea export corridor reasserts its role
During the pipeline outage, Saudi Arabia significantly increased loading volumes at its Persian Gulf terminals, redirecting more crude to be shipped out through the Strait of Hormuz. Over one recent weekend, seven VLCCs were loaded at the kingdom's Gulf export docks, with a combined capacity of about 14 million barrels. With Yanbu back in action, Saudi Arabia can once again channel a portion of its exports via the Red Sea. The core strategic value of the East-West Pipeline and Yanbu port lies in their ability to allow crude produced in the eastern oil fields to traverse the Arabian Peninsula and depart directly from the Red Sea, thereby bypassing the Strait of Hormuz entirely. In the current climate of disrupted Middle East shipping, this route remains one of the critical pieces of infrastructure underpinning Saudi Arabia's export resilience. That said, the East-West Pipeline has yet to return to its previous throughput of approximately 4 million barrels per day, and a full repair effort could still take several weeks.