Saudi Arabia restores throughput at East-West pipeline

Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Energy has announced that full pumping capacity on the critical East-West pipeline has been restored and full production recovered at the Manifa oilfield following Iranian attacks, while work is still ongoing to restore full production capacity at the Khurais field

It was announced on 9 April that important energy facilities in the Kingdom have been subject to multiple attacks, including oil and gas production, transportation and refining facilities, as well as petrochemical facilities and the electricity sector in Riyadh, the Eastern Province and Yanbu Industrial City, resulting in one death and seven injured as well as the disruption of operations.

TotalEnergies reported that the SATORP refinery, a joint venture between TotalEnergies and Aramco in Jubail industrial City, was hit on the night of 7-8 April, causing damage to one of the refinery’s two processing trains. No casualties were reported, and the units were shut down as a safety precaution. An assessment of the consequences for the refinery’s operations is currently underway.

The East-West pipeline, which has a capacity of up to 7mn bpd has played a vital role in maintaining Saudi exports as an alternative route to passage through the Strait of Hormuz, bringing crude from processing facilities in the east of the country to the Yanbu export terminal on the Red Sea. The Iranian attack on the pipeline cut pumping capacity by 700,000 bpd, according to the Ministry of Energy.

The attacks on the Manifa and Khurais fields had resulted in a reduction in production of 300,000 bpd at each field.

“The quick recovery reflects the high operational resilience and crisis management efficiency of Saudi Aramco and the Kingdom’s energy ecosystem as a whole, thereby enhancing the reliability and continuity of supplies to local and global markets, and supporting the global economy,” the Ministry of Energy said.