Saudi Arabia restarts East-West oil pipeline, sources say

Drone attacks, which Saudi Arabia has blamed on an Iraqi ⁠militia, forced the kingdomto shut the pipeline on September 11, halting crude loadings at the kingdom's Yanbu port.

Since the U.S.-Israeliwar ​on Irandisrupted oil flows from Saudi Arabia and its Gulf neighbours through the Strait of Hormuz, Riyadh has been ​using the pipeline to reroute around 4 million barrels per day — around 4% of global supply — to Yanbu. State oil firm Saudi Aramco did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Full resumption could take weeks, sources say. The pipeline was pumping at a low rate after ​its restart, two of the sources said. Read More:G7 leaders condemn Houthi strikes on Saudi Arabia.

Aramco was seeking to get the pumping rate back to four million bpd, ​one of the sources said. The pipeline has a capacity of 7m bpd. Reaching a rate of 40% of capacity will take ‌a ⁠couple of days and a full restart will take six to eight weeks, a security source said.

A separate oil industry source said a return to full pumping rates would take up to six weeks. Three pumping stationsserving the pipeline were damaged in the drone attack, sources. The line is serviced by 11 ​pumping stations and two separate ​pressure relief stations, according ⁠to industry assessments.

The pipeline will resume crude supply to Aramco refineries located on the Red Sea coast, one of the sources said, adding that one cargo was scheduled to load ​at Yanbu later on Tuesday. The person said it would be bound for China.

Traders ​were getting ⁠ready for Saudi oil loadings by moving tankers to Egypt's Mediterranean Port Said for ship-to-ship transfers and also to Sidi Kerir, another two trading sources said.

Oil prices havealso dropped this weekafter Iran said it could reopen the Strait of Hormuz ⁠within seven ​days and because Saudi Arabia has loaded more ships at its Ras ​Tanura port, raising expectations of increased exports through the Strait.