Saudi Arabia restarts East-West pipeline, to resume Yanbu oil exports
Trade sources say crude exports from Yanbu port will resume later on Tuesday after last week's pipeline damage.
Published · Updated
Map: The Gulf and Hormuz, marking Abqaiq
UpdateTuesday, September 22, 2026 at 6:35 AM ET
The timing has shifted from resumption later on Tuesday to sometime this week.
Saudi Arabia now expects oil loadings at Yanbu to resume this week, without specifying a day.
Saudi Arabia has restarted its East-West oil pipeline and expects to resume crude exports from Yanbu port later on Tuesday, according to trade sources.
The pipeline was damaged last week, cutting off the flow of crude to Yanbu, one of Saudi Arabia's main export terminals on the Red Sea. The disruption came amid a wider pattern of Houthi attacks on Saudi territory. The US Mission in Saudi Arabia has limited staff travel to Taif and Yanbu, requiring special authorization because of those attacks.
Brent crude rose 1% on Sunday after a Houthi attack on the Saudi capital, reversing a week of declines that had followed news of pipeline repairs and Omani-mediated truce talks. An explosion was also reported in Sanaa, Yemen, on Sunday, according to Osintdefender, part of a continuing exchange of strikes between the two sides. Brent was trading near $105 a barrel at the time, as Saudi Arabia worked to restore the pipeline. On Monday, a Houthi leader said the group was ready for what he called a fair deal to end the conflict with Saudi Arabia. Separately on Monday, Saudi Arabia lifted Gulf oil loadings as output from Libya's Sharara field fell to about 127,000 barrels a day after a different pipeline shutdown there.
The restart eases the immediate supply pinch caused by last week's damage, but it does not change the broader risk. Houthi attacks remain ongoing and unpredictable, Saudi export capacity is still well below normal, and tensions in the region persist despite mediation efforts. For now, this is relief, not resolution.