Saudi Arabia restores East-West pipeline flows to 5.8 million bpd, energy minister says
Saudi Arabia's Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman said oil flows through the kingdom's East-West pipeline had been restored to 5.8 million barrels per day by Tuesday morning, after operations were halted by an attack last month. The pipeline has a capacity of up to seven million bpd, and the minister said engineers restored the flow to replenish global supplies disrupted by the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Speaking at the Made in GCC Forum in Bahrain, Bahrain's Minister of Industry and Commerce Abdulla bin Fakhro and GCC Secretary General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi called for deeper Gulf industrial integration, with Albudaiwi citing more than 22,000 factories employing about 1.7 million workers and 20 joint industrial investment opportunities under development.
Why it matters: The restoration of pipeline flows and the accompanying calls for regional manufacturing integration bear directly on energy security and supply-chain resilience in the Gulf.