By Clara Ferreira Marques

April 12, 2026 (Bloomberg) – Saudi Arabia has fully restored the pumping capacity of its East-West pipeline to 7 million barrels per day, making it a crucial route for oil exports through the Red Sea.

Last week, a strike occurred just hours after a ceasefire was announced in the Iran war, damaging one of the 11 pumping stations along the 746-mile (1,200-kilometer) pipeline. This incident reduced the flow by 700,000 barrels a day. Since late February, Saudi Arabia has increased its crude shipments from Red Sea terminals significantly to compensate for the almost complete shutdown of the Strait of Hormuz.

According to the energy ministry, production from Saudi Aramco’s offshore Manifa oil facility has also been restored, although work is still ongoing at the Khurais onshore complex. Attacks on both Manifa and Khurais had cut their production capacity by about 300,000 barrels each day, as reported by the state-run Saudi Press Agency last week.

The energy ministry stated, “This quick recovery shows the strong operational resilience and crisis management effectiveness of Saudi Aramco and the entire energy ecosystem in the kingdom, which improves the reliability and continuity of supplies to both local and global markets.”

Khurais produces light crude, which is what Aramco had been transporting via the East-West pipeline, while Manifa and Aramco’s other offshore sites usually produce thicker and heavier oil.