Crude oil exports from Saudi Arabia's western Yanbu port rose to nearly four million barrels per day last week, a sharp increase from export levels before the Iran war broke out, shipping data shows.
Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil exporter, is trying to boost exports by sending crude along the East-West pipeline to Yanbu to offset the Strait of Hormuz disruption, with most of the oil heading for Asia.
It can pump up to seven million bpd to Yanbu through its East-West pipeline, around five million bpd of which could be available for exports, with the rest supplying local refineries, Aramco said on March 10.
In February, total Saudi crude exports exceeded seven million bpd, according to Kpler.
Crude exports via Yanbu have averaged about 2.9 million barrels per day so far in March, data from Kpler showed, slightly above figures provided by LSEG. This marks a sharp increase from an average of 770,000 bpd in January and February.
In the week starting March 16, exports surged further to near four million bpd, according to Kpler, LSEG and shipbrokers Clarksons, and are expected to ramp up further.
(Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar, Jonathan Saul and Nerijus Adomaitus Editing by Bernadette Baum, Aidan Lewis)
