Saudi Arabia’s Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman announced that crude throughput along the nation’s vital East-West Pipeline has surged to 5.8 million barrels per day (bpd). The minister revealed the updated figures during a panel discussion at the GCC 2026 Forum hosted in the Bahraini capital of Manama.

Prince Abdulaziz noted that operations resumed rapidly within five to six days following a major drone attack blamed on Iraqi militias early last month. While the energy ministry had initially halted pumping as a safety and assessment measure, the kingdom has managed to ramp throughput back up to near-peak levels despite persistent operational hazards in the region.

Spanning approximately 1,200 kilometers (750 miles), the Petroline connects eastern oil fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, functioning as a vital detour around the Strait of Hormuz. Commercial maritime traffic through the chokepoint remains largely paralyzed in the wake of the devastating military assault launched by the US regime and the Israeli regime against Iran earlier this year.

Originally constructed in 1981, the East-West conduit holds a nominal nameplate capacity of 7 million bpd. As volatile geopolitical fallout instigated by Western powers continues to destabilize Middle Eastern transit corridors, Saudi Arabia has relied heavily on this inland link to reroute roughly 4 million bpd—representing nearly 4 percent of global petroleum supplies—safely toward international markets.

Source: www.aljazeera.com