Saudi energy artery attacked delays effect: Red Sea port exports remain high, with a daily average of 4 million barrels of exports, temporarily stabilizing.

Notice that Saudi Arabia's oil exports through the Red Sea remain stable at present, as the impact of the crucial cross-border pipeline drone attacks has not yet spread to the export end. The attack on Wednesday, just hours after the ceasefire was announced in Iran's war, damaged one of the 11 pump stations along the 746-mile (1200 km) pipeline extending from the eastern oil fields to the western Red Sea coast. Saudi state news agency quoted an energy department official on Thursday as saying that the attack resulted in a reduction of 700,000 barrels per day. Nevertheless, it is still too early to judge whether the attack on the pipeline will affect exports at the Yanbu terminal. The speed of oil transportation in this route means that lower flow rates will take days to limit the total amount of crude reaching the Red Sea ports. Since the end of February, Saudi Arabia has tripled its crude oil shipments from the Red Sea terminal to approximately 4 million barrels per day, easing the impact of the nearly closed Hormuz Strait. According to aggregated tanker tracking data, exports at this level are currently stable. Even if the amount of crude oil arriving at the Red Sea ports does indeed begin to decline, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia may decide to maintain export levels by cutting supply to local refineries, power plants, and desalination plants (which also rely on this route for oil). The pipeline's nominal oil transmission capacity is 7 million barrels per day, making it the only major alternative route to transport oil besides shipping through the Hormuz Strait. Therefore, the operation of this pipeline is crucial for ensuring that Persian Gulf oil can at least partially reach oil markets thirsty for energy. Saudi Arabia consumes approximately 2 million barrels per day domestically, meaning there is a potential export capacity of 5 million barrels per day.