Saudi Arabia is planning to increase its capacity to move crude oil to destinations outside the Persian Gulf to 10 million barrels a day within two to three years. The plan builds on the East-West pipeline and includes a proposed gas-pipeline conversion; it is a future transport-capacity goal, not an announcement of an immediate increase in oil production.
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What the 10 million-barrel target means
The East-West pipeline carries crude from production facilities in eastern Saudi Arabia to Yanbu, the kingdom’s Red Sea export hub, allowing oil to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.
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29 It is a key existing route for maintaining exports when shipping through the strait is disrupted.
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The pipeline was reported to have a capacity of about 7 million barrels a day. On October 6, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said it was carrying 5.8 million barrels a day.
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27 The proposed 10 million-barrel figure therefore describes planned capacity to move more crude outside Hormuz—not the pipeline’s reported current flow.
Reports frame the target in slightly different ways: some describe expanding the East-West pipeline, while others describe raising Saudi Arabia’s broader capacity to bypass Hormuz. The reported measures include work on the East-West route and converting another pipeline, so the 10 million figure should not be mistaken for existing East-West throughput.
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The reported expansion measures
- Upgrade East-West pumping stations. Plans include improvements to pumping stations on the pipeline, helping support higher transport capacity.
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- Temporarily convert a domestic gas pipeline. The minister said the conversion could add 1.2 million barrels a day of crude capacity within seven to eight weeks.
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The supplied reporting supports the 1.2 million-barrel estimate and the wider 10 million-barrel target. It does not clearly confirm the gas line’s potential expansion to 3 million barrels a day, when it might return to domestic gas service, or the proposed equipment for switching between oil and gas. Those details should be treated as unverified here.
Aramco is also examining other export options
Separately from the pipeline-capacity target, reporting says Saudi Aramco is studying additional crude-export routes to bypass Hormuz. Other reporting says the company is examining overseas storage capacity as well.
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35 These are studies, not confirmed new routes or completed storage projects.
Together, the proposals point to a strategy of adding alternatives for moving Saudi crude when Gulf shipping routes are disrupted. The East-West pipeline already provides an established route to the Red Sea; the planned upgrades and gas-line conversion would add to the capacity available for that kind of diversion.
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