Saudi Arabia is informing some European refiners that crude oil shipments scheduled for September have been canceled due to the shutdown of the East-West Pipeline, due to drone attacks damaged its key export pipeline to the Red Sea.
The 7-million-bpd East-West pipeline has been offline since a September 10 attack. The pipeline carries crude from eastern Saudi oil fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, bypassing Hormuz.
Saudi Aramco has canceled or delayed crude deliveries to European refiners after the shutdown of the kingdom’s East-West pipeline cut into one of its remaining routes around the Strait of Hormuz.
At least three European refiners have had late-September cargoes canceled or pushed as far out as November, according to market sources cited by Argus. Two more expect notices covering September supplies.
The supply disruption supported oil prices, with Brent oil futures trading near $108 a barrel and cargo prices in Europe’s physical market even higher, with key benchmark dated Brent at around $122 per barrel, LSEG data showed.
Salvador Luna is a geopolitical analyst and political science graduate, and the founder of Geostrategy, a platform dedicated to geopolitical analysis, strategic risk and the study of global power dynamics.
His work focuses on the intersection of geography, power, energy, resources, technology, security and international competition.
