Saudi Aramco has started preliminary engineering for an expansion of its East-West crude pipeline and associated networks, CEO Amin Nasser said on November 3, 2026. The planned increase would raise capacity from 7 million to as much as 10 million barrels per day, strengthening an export route that avoids the Strait of Hormuz. The announcement describes work underway—not an expansion already completed.
1
2
What Aramco announced
Speaking after the company’s third-quarter results, Nasser said preliminary engineering had begun on the pipeline expansion. Aramco is also assessing alternative export routes and the possibility of adding crude-storage capacity at major demand centers.
1
2
The East-West pipeline transports crude from Saudi Arabia’s eastern region to Yanbu on the Red Sea, providing an outlet that bypasses Hormuz when shipping through the strait is disrupted.
5 Before the disruption, Hormuz carried about 20% of global oil supplies, according to reporting on the announcement.
18
The proposed capacity target is up to 10 million barrels per day, compared with the existing 7 million. That is a target for the planned expansion; preliminary engineering does not mean the extra capacity is already available.
1
2
A broader effort to preserve export flexibility
Aramco is also exploring other export routes and overseas capacity, and Nasser said the company remained ready to ramp up production rapidly when needed.
23 Existing route options include exports through the Strait of Hormuz, Bab el-Mandeb and the Suez Canal.
6
Those plans matter because they could give Aramco more ways to move crude if shipping routes are disrupted. But the company has not provided details for every potential project in the reporting available; the pipeline expansion remains the clearest specific capacity target.
1
2
23
The announcement came with higher quarterly profit
Aramco reported third-quarter net profit of $36.25 billion, up 34.5% year over year. Higher revenue and the company’s exit from a joint venture contributed to the increase, Reuters reported.
17
The pipeline announcement points to a longer-term infrastructure response to shipping disruption: expanding a route that already reaches the Red Sea while studying additional ways to export and store crude. Its eventual effect will depend on whether the planned work proceeds and the additional capacity is delivered.