Saudi Arabia Reportedly Restarts Pipeline That Moved Oil Around Hormuz After Drone Attacks Knocked It Offline

Saudi Arabia has reportedly restarted its pipeline that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz after drone attacks forced it offline earlier in September.

The kingdom could resume crude exports from its Red Sea port of Yanbu later Tuesday, three anonymous sources briefed on the matter told Reuters. The shutdown had halted crude loadings at Yanbu, the outlet reported.

The pipeline had carried about four million barrels a day, roughly 4% of global supply, to Yanbu after the war with Iran disrupted shipping through the strait, according to Reuters.

Saudi Aramco did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.

The pipeline was pumping at a low rate after the restart, two of the sources said.

Aramco is seeking to bring the flow back to four million barrels a day, according to one of Reuters’ sources. A full resumption could take weeks, a security source told the outlet. An oil tanker was set to load at Yanbu later Tuesday and head to China, one of the sources said.

The restart helped drive selling in oil markets Tuesday, and Brent crude, the international benchmark, fell more than $2 a barrel to its lowest level since Sept. 8, Reuters reported.

A senior Iranian government official told Kyodo News on Tuesday that Iran would reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the U.S. takes initial steps toward easing military pressure, including moving to end its blockade of Iranian ports.

Initial repairs might restore “perhaps 1 or 2 million” barrels a day, but returning the line to full capacity would take “6 weeks or more,” Ellen Wald, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center, told the DCNF on Sept. 18.

At least one pumping station appeared to have been destroyed and others were damaged, Wald added.

Saudi Arabia could bring the pipeline back “much quicker, but at a reduced capacity” by routing oil around damaged pumping stations, Andrew Lipow, president of Lipow Oil Associates, told the DCNF on Sept. 18.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright told CNBC on Sept. 15 that the outage would be “measured in days.”

By early June, Saudi Arabia had more than doubled its oil exports from Yanbu to more than 5 million barrels a day, the Associated Press reported, citing the International Energy Agency.

Diesel hit a record $6.53 a gallon nationwide Tuesday, according to the American Automobile Association (AAA).

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