Saudi Arabia’s crude shipments surge to highest level since Iran war began

Saudi Arabia managed to push crude oil exports to 5.28 million barrels per day in September 2026, the highest monthly average since the US-Iran conflict erupted in early 2026. The recovery is all the more striking given that just one month earlier, shipments had cratered to levels not seen in nearly a decade. From pipeline disruption to Gulf pivot Saudi Arabia’s East-West pipeline, which feeds crude to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, was knocked offline by drone attacks earlier this year. That pipeline had been a critical artery for reaching European and Mediterranean buyers without transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Without it, August exports collapsed to somewhere between 2.4 and 3 million bpd, the kingdom’s lowest export volumes in nine years. Aramco’s response was to pivot hard toward its Gulf coast terminals. By September, the company had abandoned Yanbu loadings entirely. No tankers were filled at the Red Sea port after September 12. On or around September 21 alone, Aramco loaded roughly 14 million barrels onto seven very large crude carriers at Gulf terminals. Ship-to-ship transfers and Omani workarounds Aramco sold approximately 60 million barrels for September and October deliver...