Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports climbed to 6 million barrels per day in September, matching the kingdom's 2025 monthly average and marking the highest level since the war with Iran began about seven months ago. The kingdom hit that mark even after shutting its East-West pipeline over drone damage, rerouting shipments back through the Strait of Hormuz instead.
Saudi Arabia is exporting 6 million barrels per day of crude oil this month, according to trade intelligence firm Kpler. That volume matches the kingdom's monthly average for 2025 and is the highest level recorded since fighting with Iran-backed militants escalated seven months ago.
Pipeline outage pushes exports back through Hormuz
Riyadh reached that figure despite closing its critical East-West pipeline this month after a drone attack launched from Iraq damaged the line. September shipments have still surged nearly 80% over the 3.4 million bpd of crude exported in August.
The pipeline had let Saudi Arabia bypass the Strait of Hormuz while Iran attacked tankers in those waters, shifting output from eastern production regions to the Red Sea terminal of Yanbu. Brent crude jumped to nearly $110 per barrel after the pipeline shut, but prices have since pulled back as confidence grows that the outage was less disruptive than first feared.
Traffic through Hormuz climbs back up
The Saudis have redirected exports back through Hormuz as the U.S. military has carved out a shipping lane along Oman's coast, a route other Gulf states have already relied on for months. The passage remains dangerous, as Iran continues to attack tankers transiting the strait.
Oil exports through Hormuz reached a seven-day average of 13.2 million bpd on Wednesday, compared with around 17 million bpd before the Iran war disrupted traffic. Matt Smith, director of commodity research at Kpler, said the ramp-up from the Mideast Gulf is a consequence of the pipeline outage but likely also signals "greater confidence in using the Strait of Hormuz given rising traffic".
Industry sources told Reuters the East-West pipeline restarted at low volumes earlier this week and is now building up, though Saudi Arabia has not publicly confirmed a restart. Saudi Aramco CEO Amin Nasser told Nikkei that such infrastructure interruptions usually last days rather than weeks or months, without giving a specific update on the pipeline.
Source: CNBC
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