Saudi East-West Pipeline Goes Live to Bypass Hormuz
Saudi Aramco is ramping up crude flows through the 750-mile East-West pipeline from Abqaiq on the Gulf to Yanbu on the Red Sea, aiming for seven million barrels per day to bypass the Strait of Hormuz as tensions with Iran threaten market access; the pipeline helps mitigate supply gaps but is not a fail-safe due to Yanbu's export capacity and ongoing security risks, with global prices fluctuating on the conflict's length and potential disruptions.