Saudi Arabia Plans Red Sea Pipeline Expansion to Cut Hormuz Dependence

Saudi Arabia is considering expanding the capacity of its crude ?oil pipeline to the western Red Sea coast, five sources close to the matter said, enabling the kingdom and possibly neighbours ?to transport more oil without crossing the Strait of Hormuz. 

The East-West pipeline was built in the early 1980s and has become crucial since the start of the Iran war in February and the resulting halt to shipping through the Strait of



Hormuz.

It can transport up to 7 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude to the Red Sea port ?of Yanbu. About 2 million bpd feed refineries on the west coast and roughly 5 million bpd are for export, the CEO ?of state-backed oil company Aramco said in May.

The kingdom is in preliminary talks with ?some of its neighbours about the potential expansion of the pipeline's capacity by up to 2 million bpd, the sources said