Saudi Arabia Says East-West Pipeline Capacity Restored to 5.8 Million Barrels a Day

Saudi Arabia says its East-West pipeline has returned to pumping 5.8 million barrels of oil per day, with Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announcing that full capacity has been restored following a major attack on the pipeline last month, according to a report from Al Jazeera.

The East-West pipeline is a key piece of Saudi Arabia's oil infrastructure, allowing crude to be transported across the kingdom from fields in the east to export terminals on the Red Sea coast, reducing reliance on tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the Arabian Gulf.

According to the report, the pipeline had sustained damage in an attack last month, though the minister's statement did not detail the nature of the attack, who was responsible, or the extent of the damage caused at the time.

The announcement that the pipeline is now operating at its stated capacity of 5.8 million barrels per day suggests that repair work has been completed, restoring one of the kingdom's most important overland export routes to full operation.

Saudi Arabia has in the past faced attacks on its oil infrastructure, including strikes on pipelines and processing facilities, prompting the kingdom to continue investing in the security and redundancy of its energy transport network.