Saudi Arabia Has Deployed Oil Pumping Across The Desert

• 29.03.2026, 18:00

For the first time in history.

For the first time in its history, Saudi Arabia has utilized the strategic East-West oil pipeline at full capacity. This allows to partially compensate for the consequences of the energy crisis, which arose against Iran.

According to Bloomberg.

According to sources in the industry, as of March 28, up to 7 million barrels of oil per day are pumped through the pipeline - this is a record for a pipeline with a length of about 1,200 kilometers. It was built back in 1981 as a backup route in case of a blockage in the Strait of Hormuz.

Of the total volume, about 5 million barrels are sent for export through terminals at the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea, with the rest going to domestic refineries. To achieve these volumes, Aramco in early March completed upgrades to adjacent pipelines, adapting them to transport crude oil.

Despite this, the Petroline system cannot fully replace sea shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, but remains a critical route for the global energy industry. It provides direct transportation of oil from the Persian Gulf regions to the Red Sea.

In comparison, alternative routes, such as the ADCOP pipeline in the UAE, have a much lower capacity of about 1.5 million barrels per day.