Saudi Aramco’s 7mn b/d East-West pipeline has proven its value every day since the Middle East conflict choked off most shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The state energy giant swiftly switched crude exports from Gulf Coast terminals to Red Sea facilities at Yanbu, with exports from the terminal surging from around 750,000 b/d to 4mn b/d within a matter of weeks (MEES, 13 March). This new reliance on the East-West pipeline carries its own risks, and as Aramco looks to further diversify its export outlets, ‘optionality’ emerged as a recurring theme during the company’s Q2 earnings calls this week.
Emphasizing that Aramco’s export infrastructure was not impaired by the Houthis’ campaign against Saudi shipping in the Red Sea (MEES, 24 July), CEO Amin Nasser told a media call on 4 August that this was down to “the optionality that we have currently at hand. And at the same time, we are not stopping at this…we are also actively increasing the optionality to expand on our additional flexibility.” (CONTINUED - 1081 WORDS)
