The East-West Pipeline, also known as the Petroline, is a pipeline in Saudi Arabia that runs from the Abqaiq oil field in the Eastern Province (near Bahrain and Qatar on the Persian Gulf coast) across the width of the Arabian Peninsula to Yanbu at the Red Sea. It was built during the IranâÂÂIraq War in the 1980s to allow Saudi oil exports to bypass the tanker war taking place in the Strait of Hormuz.
The pipeline has two pipes, one of diameter and the other, originally for natural gas liquids, of diameter.
As of 2018 they had a capacity of (BPD) during normal operation. As of 2026, its full capacity was 7 million BPD when accompanying natural gas liquids pipelines are converted to carry crude oil.
Typically, the pipeline supplies oil to a number of locations: 1 million BPD to 3 refineries in Yanbu (controlled by the Yanbu National Petrochemical Company and Aramco), to the Sumed pipeline in Egypt, and 1.1âÂÂ1.4 million BPD of Arab Light oil through the King Fahd Industrial Port (Yanbu) with a limit of 3 million BPD.
Yanbu port's two terminals, Yanbu North and Yanbu South, have a nominal loading capacity of about 4.5 million BPD, but a tested actual capacity of about 4 million BPD. However consultancy Vortexa estimates that in wartime conditions capacity would be about 3 million BPD.
The pipeline was built in the 1980s, "amid fears that the Iran-Iraq war would cut off shipping through the Strait of Hormuz."
The 2019 EastâÂÂWest Pipeline attack was a Houthi drone attack that targeted the pipeline on 14 May 2019. The attack temporarily shut down the pipeline.
The pipeline has been converted at times to carry natural gas, and has been converted back to carry crude oil.
During the 2026 Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz to non-Iranian vessels, It was converted to full capacity on March 11, 2026. The amount of oil transferred using the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait rose by 21% in complaisance to February 2026, all of it bound to Asia.