Saudi Arabia's crude oil exports fell 460,000 barrels per day in July, dropping to 4.19 million barrels per day, as security threats along two of the kingdom's key shipping corridors disrupted flows. The 746-mile pipeline carrying crude from Saudi Arabia's eastern oil fields to the Red Sea coast has become a critical chokepoint in the country's export strategy this year.
Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia redirected nearly all of its crude exports through the East-West Petroline to the Red Sea port of Yanbu following the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in late February, with flows peaking around 4.07 million barrels a day in March.
A Bottleneck That's Getting Worse, Not Better
That Red Sea workaround has itself become vulnerable. By June, Petroline volumes had already declined 41% from their March peak to roughly 2.39 million barrels a day, and the pressure continued into July as Yemen's Iran-backed Houthis stepped up attacks near the Bab el-Mandeb strait. Yanbu loadings specifically fell to 3 million barrels a day after July 20, down from 3.8 million barrels a day in the April-to-June period — meaning the alternative route Saudi Arabia built to avoid the Hormuz closure is now facing its own escalating security risk.
Squeezed From Both Directions
The kingdom is effectively caught between two chokepoints at once: the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, and the Red Sea route built to route around it is now under direct threat from Houthi attacks. That combination leaves Saudi Arabia with fewer reliable options for moving crude to international markets than it has had at almost any point in recent memory, regardless of how much spare production capacity the country has available.
Related: Trump Signals 'Low-Key' Iran Approach as Oil Standoff Drags On
The export disruption comes as the broader US posture toward the region has shifted toward what officials have described as a “low-key” approach — prioritizing economic pressure on Iran over direct military escalation, even as the shipping risks tied to the standoff continue to squeeze Gulf oil flows regardless of the diplomatic tone in Washington.
With both Hormuz and now the Red Sea route under pressure, Saudi Arabia's options for stabilizing export volumes in the near term look increasingly limited to waiting out the security situation rather than rerouting around it again.
