Saudi Arabia accelerates oil exports via Sumed pipeline to avoid the Red Sea
CommodityGeopolitics Impact 4
Saudi Arabia has stepped up oil exports through the Sumed pipeline that runs across Egypt to the Mediterranean, in order to avoid attacks by the Houthis in the Red Sea. Data from Kpler show that oil exports from Egypt's Sidi Kerir port more than doubled to about 2.3 million barrels per day in August, from around 1 million barrels per day in July. Meanwhile, exports from Yanbu port through the Bab el-Mandeb strait plunged almost 90 percent to 1.3 million barrels in the week ending August 3, from 11 million barrels in the week ending July 20. Matt Smith, head of commodity research at Kpler, said that because large fully laden tankers cannot pass through the Suez Canal, they have to offload half of their crude into the pipeline at the Ain Sokhna port and pump it back out at Sidi Kerir port. This is not a short-term decision but a strategic shift, with most of the oil from Sidi Kerir port heading to the United States and Europe rather than Asia.
