East‑West pipeline restored
Social posts say Saudi Aramco restored the East‑West pipeline to full capacity within 48 hours, a rapid operational turnaround that users highlighted as a major energy‑infrastructure achievement. The item circulated widely on X with high engagement from regional commentators. (x.com)
Saudi Arabia said on April 12 that it had restored the East-West oil pipeline to full pumping capacity of about 7 million barrels a day. (spa.gov.sa) The Saudi Ministry of Energy said the repair followed attacks disclosed on April 9 that had cut East-West pipeline throughput by about 700,000 barrels a day. The ministry said the same attacks also reduced output at the Manifa field by about 300,000 barrels a day and at the Khurais field by about 300,000 barrels a day. (spa.gov.sa) Reuters reported the restoration came three days after the ministry’s damage assessment, putting the turnaround inside a 72-hour window from the April 9 statement to the April 12 recovery announcement. The ministry said Manifa volumes were fully recovered, while work at Khurais was still continuing. (usnews.com) The East-West line, also known as Petroline, moves crude from Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province to Yanbu on the Red Sea. That route lets exports leave the kingdom without passing through the Strait of Hormuz. (aljazeera.com) That bypass has become more important in March and April 2026, as Saudi Arabia shifted more crude westward during disruptions tied to the Iran conflict. Bloomberg reported on March 28 that the pipeline had already been running at its full 7 million barrel-a-day capacity to keep oil moving to the Red Sea. (bloomberg.com) The April 9 attacks hit one of the system’s pumping stations, according to the Saudi Press Agency. The ministry also said one Saudi worker was killed and seven others were injured in the broader strikes on energy facilities. (spa.gov.sa) Saudi officials said the restoration would support supplies to domestic and international markets. Reuters said the announcement came as oil markets were already reacting to conflict-related risks around Gulf energy infrastructure. (yahoo.com) The pipeline was built in the 1980s during the Iran-Iraq War as a land route to the Red Sea, and the latest repair put that contingency system back at full use in the middle of another regional shock. (wikipedia.org)
