Saudi Arabia has opened a tender for two million barrels of its flagship Arab Light grade for loading this month from its Red Sea port of Yanbu, Reuters has reported, citing unnamed traders.
This is Saudi Arabia’s fourth oil tender as it seeks to redirect crude supply from the Persian Gulf to the Red Sea. Saudi Arabia has pivoted onshore Arab Light volumes onto the 7 million barrels per day Petroline from the east to Yanbu on its western shores. This has pushed Yanbu’s oil exports to about 2.47 million bpd, a massive 330% surge compared with pre-war levels, according to Windward data.
The Saudi pivot to the Red Sea is already visible in supertanker movements as 27 such vessels are currently observed to be heading toward Yanbu, compared with 18 vessels for Jeddah and three each for Jizan, Duba, and Rabigh.
Earlier this week, reports emerged that the Saudis were asking Asian clients to nominate cargoes for April loading, including from its eastern terminals. However, Arab Light will only be loading from Yanbu, Reuters reported, citing unnamed sources again.
There are, however, constraints on Yanbu outflows of crude. The Petroline pipeline may have a nameplate capacity of 7 million barrels daily, but the terminals at Yanbu have a much smaller capacity than that, per Vortexa data, which suggests they can load 3 million barrels daily at most.
Meanwhile, a tanker that loaded Saudi crude at Yanbu earlier this month has reached India, after successfully crossing the Strait of Hormuz, The Hindu reported on Thursday. The tanker is carrying 1 million barrels of Saudi crude. Iran reportedly said this week it would allow Indian oil tankers to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, following negotiations between the foreign ministers of the two countries. According to a Reuters report citing an unnamed source, there were two more tankers had also recently passed the Strait of Hormuz en route to the subcontinent.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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