Latest vessel-tracking and satellite data show that Saudi Arabia has resumed oil loading at the Al Muajjiz crude terminal in Yanbu on the Red Sea coast. According to Sina Finance, this means Saudi Arabia's Red Sea crude export chain has begun to reopen after the East-West pipeline returned to operation.

Al Muajjiz is one of Yanbu's most important crude loading facilities and the main export outlet after oil is transported to the Red Sea coast through the East-West pipeline. After the pipeline was attacked and shut down, crude loading activity in Yanbu fell sharply, and Saudi Arabia temporarily shifted more exports back to terminals on the Persian Gulf coast.

Vessel-tracking data show that the Saudi ultra-large crude carrier AMAD currently lists "YANBU INDUSTRIAL" as its destination. The ship has a deadweight tonnage of about 298,700 tons and is a VLCC.

Latest information also shows crude loading activity has reappeared at the Al Muajjiz terminal. By comparison, satellite images from September 16 showed no VLCC berthed at the terminal's main loading berth, although it can normally handle several large tankers at the same time.

Saudi Arabia has already restarted the East-West pipeline linking its eastern producing region with Yanbu. The pipeline is still operating at a lower throughput level, and repair work is continuing. The line is about 1,200 kilometers long and has a maximum design capacity of about 7 million barrels per day.

During disruptions to traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, Saudi Arabia once used the pipeline to move about 4 million barrels of crude a day to Yanbu, equal to about 4% of global oil supply. Around September 11, drone strikes hit some pipeline pumping stations, after which operations stopped and Yanbu crude loading was also interrupted.

Saudi Arabia later began restoring some flows by bypassing damaged facilities and plans to gradually raise pipeline throughput. Earlier information showed that at least one cargo loaded in Yanbu was planned for China.

During the pipeline outage, Saudi Arabia significantly increased loading at terminals on the Persian Gulf coast, sending more crude back through the Strait of Hormuz. Over one recent weekend, seven VLCCs were loading crude at Saudi Gulf export terminals, with combined capacity of about 14 million barrels.

With loading resumed in Yanbu, Saudi Arabia can again divert part of its exports toward the Red Sea. The strategic value of the East-West pipeline and Yanbu lies in allowing crude from eastern Saudi oil fields to cross the Arabian Peninsula and be exported directly from the Red Sea, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. However, the pipeline has not yet returned to its earlier throughput of about 4 million barrels per day, and full repairs may still take several weeks.