Saudi Arabia's Gulf Oil Loadings Surge to 14 Million Barrels Capacity Over September 19-20 Weekend, Highest Tanker Count Since June as Kingdom Shifts Exports to Hormuz After Pipeline Shutdown

Saudi Arabia's observed oil loadings from inside the Persian Gulf jumped over the September 19-20 weekend, with oil supertankers possessing the capacity to collect 14 million barrels observed at the nation's export installations in the Gulf, the highest tanker count since at least June according to data from the European Union's Sentinel 2 satellite published by Bloomberg on September 21. Saudi Arabia has increased oil exports from its eastern ports since the suspension of the East-West pipeline following the September 11 drone attacks, with crude transits via the Strait of Hormuz rising from 1.2 million barrels per day on September 1 to 1.9 million barrels per day on September 16 based on a 28-day moving average compiled by maritime intelligence company Vortexa, according to reporting by AGBI on September 18. The increase in oil flows via the Strait of Hormuz signals a shift in Saudi Arabia's export strategy, as the damaged East-West pipeline restricts oil loadings at Yanbu, the Red Sea terminal that had become the kingdom's main export hub following the outbreak of war with Iran in February, according to Xavier Tang, a senior market analyst at Vortexa. The surge in Gulf loadings represents a forced strategic reversal for Saudi Arabia, which had relied heavily on the East-West pipeline to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ship crude safely from Red Sea ports. Analysts separately told AGBI that Saudi Arabia has increased its use of shuttling to move oil through the strait, a process in which vessels escorted by the US Navy carry oil on short-haul journeys from Saudi terminals to larger tankers anchored in the Gulf of Oman, avoiding prolonged exposure to the high-risk Hormuz transit zone. The kingdom's ability to rapidly scale up Gulf exports demonstrates operational flexibility but also underscores the vulnerability of its export infrastructure, as it is now dependent on both the willingness of tanker operators to accept Hormuz risk and continued US naval escort capa