❗️Saudi Arabia plans to raise pipeline oil export capacity to 10 million barrels per day

Saudi Arabia plans to expand its pipeline crude export capacity to as much as 10 million barrels per day by converting a domestic gas pipeline for oil shipments and investing in its existing East-West network, Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said at the World Petroleum Congress in Riyadh.

The kingdom could add 1.2 million barrels per day of export capacity within seven to eight weeks by temporarily converting the gas pipeline, with further investment potentially adding another 3 million barrels per day.

Abdulaziz said he had instructed state-owned Saudi Aramco to use the pipeline for crude transport until May, after which it must be cleaned and returned to gas service ahead of the summer season.

The plans follow the temporary closure of Saudi Arabia's 1,200-kilometre East-West oil pipeline in September after a drone attack. The route carries crude across the Arabian Peninsula and provides an alternative export corridor when shipments through the Strait of Hormuz are disrupted.