Saudi Aramco has been offering spot crude cargoes to European buyers for both October and November loading, according to people familiar with the matter, as the Saudi state oil company works to compensate for supplies lost when its key East-West pipeline was shut following an attack. The October-loading cargoes were offered at a discount to Aramco's official selling price and were available for lifting from either the Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir or from Yanbu on the Saudi Red Sea coast.
The pipeline shutdown had earlier forced Aramco to take the rare step of informing European refiners that they would receive no crude in October under long-term contracts. The decision applied to all European buyers, leaving refiners scrambling for replacement barrels and pushing regional crude prices higher, with Dated Brent—the benchmark for physical barrels in Europe—topping $130 at one point. European OECD countries imported approximately 577,000 barrels per day of Saudi crude in June, according to International Energy Agency data, underscoring the significance of the disruption for the continent's refining sector.
The East-West pipeline, also known as Petroline, spans more than 1,200 kilometers from Saudi Arabia's eastern oil-producing regions to the Red Sea port of Yanbu, providing an export route that bypasses the Strait of Hormuz. The pipeline has a peak capacity of 7 million barrels per day, including up to 5 million barrels available for export. The shutdown followed drone attacks on the Riyadh and Medina sections of the pipeline in September, prompting a precautionary closure.
With the pipeline now back in operation, Aramco has increased exports and begun easing the tight market conditions in Europe. According to another person familiar with the matter, Aramco has also notified European refiners that they will receive their full allocations for November under term contracts. Market traders reported that increased Saudi supply has already contributed to lower prices for some crude grades in Europe this week.
Saudi Arabia typically exports an average of 700,000 to 800,000 barrels per day of crude to Europe, with much of that volume supplied under long-term contracts, according to ship-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg. The uncertainty over term supplies had pushed European refiners toward spot purchases, with Poland's Orlen among those actively seeking alternative cargoes during the disruption.
The disruption also prompted Aramco to make unusual adjustments to its Asian supply arrangements, offering spot cargoes to Asian buyers and routing some shipments through the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz—a route the company had largely avoided during the regional conflict due to security risks. Those Gulf-routed cargoes offer limited relief to European refiners, as shipments would still need to transit the Red Sea or take the longer route around Africa to reach Mediterranean refineries.
From a logistics perspective, the episode highlights the vulnerability of energy supply chains to infrastructure attacks and the complex routing adjustments required when key pipelines are disrupted. European refiners typically receive Saudi crude through Egypt's Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir, which is connected to the Red Sea via the SUMED pipeline, making the East-West pipeline a critical link in the chain from Saudi oil fields to European refineries. The restoration of the pipeline and Aramco's renewed spot offerings have provided relief, but the incident underscores the ongoing risks facing Middle East energy exports and the shipping routes that support them.
Looking ahead, market participants will monitor whether Aramco sustains its spot offerings to Europe and whether European refiners return to term-contract reliance or continue to diversify their supply sources. The company is also pursuing additional overseas crude storage and alternative export capacity to reduce exposure to regional disruptions, including an agreement to store oil in Singapore beginning in 2027. For now, the immediate crisis for European buyers has eased, but the strategic implications for energy logistics and supply chain resilience in the region remain significant.