Saudi Aramco is cancelling or delaying crude oil deliveries to European refineries after the shutdown of the strategically important East-West pipeline in Saudi Arabia, adding fresh strain to the European oil market.
According to market sources cited by oilprice.com, at least three European refineries have already been told that cargoes scheduled for late September are either being cancelled or pushed back as far as November. Two more refineries are awaiting similar notices about their September supplies.
The East-West pipeline, which has a capacity of 7 million barrels a day, has been out of action since an attack on September 10. It is one of Saudi Arabia's principal energy arteries, carrying crude from fields in the east of the country to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, allowing exports to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.
A market source told Argus that all Saudi cargoes scheduled for the last ten days of September could now be at risk of cancellation or delay. The same source estimated that crude stocks at Yanbu were enough to last around five days, though Argus said it had not independently verified that figure.
Posts circulating online offered further detail on the cause of the disruption. An account called The Compass Report said on X that the Petroline system had been down since the 10th after drones struck pumping stations in the Riyadh and Medina regions, while a separate post reported a fire at an Aramco facility in Abha following a drone attack from Yemen. Aramco did not comment on the reports.
A reversal from August forecasts
The disruption marks a sharp reversal from the picture just weeks earlier. In August, Bloomberg had reported that Saudi Aramco would deliver the full contracted volumes of crude to at least three European refineries for September.
But data from Vortexa cited by Argus show that no cargo of Saudi crude has left Yanbu since September 11.
At the same time, Saudi exports through the Sidi Kerir terminal in Egypt averaged 1.95 million barrels a day in the first two weeks of September, while arrivals at Ain Sokhna ran at around 1.40 million barrels a day. Crude exported through Yanbu can be shipped to Ain Sokhna in Egypt and from there, via the 2.5 million barrel-a-day SUMED pipeline, on to Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean.
Europe seeks alternatives
The first effects are already visible in the European market. Poland's Orlen has begun buying alternative cargoes to cover its needs. Traders who spoke to Reuters said the company had bought North Sea grades including Grane, Johan Sverdrup and Johan Castberg, and had also sought offers for American WTI Midland and Kazakhstan's CPC Blend.
At least four tanker shipments scheduled for September from Sidi Kerir to Gdansk did not go ahead.
Aramco supplies around 40 percent of the crude processed by Orlen, which operates refineries in Poland, Lithuania and the Czech Republic. The Polish company said its plants were still receiving raw material as normal.
Growing importance of the route
The East-West pipeline's shutdown carries added weight because the route had become one of Saudi Arabia's main alternatives for bypassing export constraints through the Persian Gulf.
A problem that until a few days ago was confined to Saudi energy infrastructure is now being felt by European customers, with cancelled cargoes, delivery delays and a growing search for alternative supplies.
