Saudi Arabia's East-West pipeline is carrying around 5.8mn b/d, according to energy minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman.
The 7mn b/d-capacity pipeline was shut on 10 September after a drone strike launched from Iraq. The attack closed off an export route on which Saudi Arabia has relied since the US-Iran war disrupted seaborne shipments through the strait of Hormuz,
"Within five or six days of the big attack, we were able to restart flows through the pipeline," Prince Abdulaziz told the Made in the GCC Forum in Bahrain on Tuesday. "As of this morning, we are back to 5.8mn b/d."
This is the first throughput figure offered by either the Saudi government or state-controlled Aramco since the attack. Around a week ago, sources told Argus that pipeline flows were 5.5mn b/d.
Riyadh has yet to issue a formal damage assessment. Sources said three of the line's 11 pumping stations were damaged, one significantly, but the pipeline itself sustained no damage.
Prince Abdulaziz said the swift restart was down primarily to Saudi Arabia's localisation drive.
The East-West pipeline carries crude from Saudi fields and oil processing facilities near the Mideast Gulf to the Red Sea port of Yanbu for export, and it supplies refineries, power stations and desalination plants on the Red Sea coast. Prior to the US-Iran war, 1.5mn-2mn b/d of crude would typically go through the line to feed those facilities.
Runs at Saudi Red Sea refineries have dropped in recent weeks, primarily because Aramco shut its 400,000 b/d Jizan refinery following an attack by the Yemen-based Houthi rebels in early September.
