Saudi Arabia plans to expand its crude oil export pipeline capacity to up to 10 mb/d by upgrading its existing East-West pipeline network and by converting a domestic gas pipeline for oil transportation, according to Saudi Energy Minister.
The kingdom could secure an additional 1.2 mb/d of export capacity within seven to eight weeks by temporarily repurposing a gas pipeline to carry crude oil, according to the minister. Further investments could raise the additional capacity to as much as 3 mb/d. The minister said he had authorised Saudi Aramco to use the pipeline to transport oil until May 2027. It would then have to be cleaned and restored to gas operations ahead of the summer season, when gas demand reaches its peak.
Separately, upgrades to pumping stations along Saudi Arabia’s 7 mb/d East-West pipeline, together with other infrastructure investments, could enable the kingdom to increase its capacity to redirect shipments away from its main maritime routes through the Gulf and towards the Red Sea to approximately 10 mb/d over the next two to three years.
Since the outbreak of the US-Iran war, the East-West crude oil pipeline has enabled Saudi Arabia to redirect part of its crude production from eastern facilities to the Red Sea export terminal at Yanbu, bypassing the closed Strait of Hormuz. However, repeated attacks on the East-West pipeline have hampered the kingdom’s ability to export crude through this alternative route. Following several disruptions in September, Saudi Arabia announced the resumption of flows a few days ago, with capacity standing at 5.8 mb/d (KEI, 08/10/2026).
Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest crude oil exporter (294 Mt in 2024, or 2.2 billion barrels). According to our data, exports went mainly to the Asia and Pacific region (77%, of which 25% are for China), followed by Europe (12%) in 2024 (Enerdata Global Energy Research).