RIYADH: Faced with an unprecedented crisis in shipping its oil to clients overseas, Saudi Arabia is moving rapidly to activate a decades-old contingency plan — pumping millions of gallons across vast tracts of desert to reach tankers on the Red Sea.
With the vital Strait of Hormuz all but closed, the region’s petroleum-exporting monarchies are facing a potentially disastrous situation as Iran targets energy installations, storage capacity fills, and production is throttled due to the shipping paralysis caused by the Middle East war.
The Gulf has been battered by Iranian attacks in retaliation for the US-Israeli strikes that sparked the conflict, with Tehran targeting both US assets in the region and civilian infrastructure alike.
To help manage the fiasco, Saudi Arabia is ramping up the use of the Petroline, its east-west pipeline bisecting the kingdom, Saudi state energy giant Aramco said during an earnings call this week.
Petroline ramps up activity to bypass Hormuz blockage
