The East-West Pipeline, also known as the ''Petroline,'' is a -long pipeline that runs from the
Abqaiq oil field in the
Eastern Province (near
Bahrain
Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is an island country in West Asia. Situated on the Persian Gulf, it comprises a small archipelago of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered on Bahrain Island, which mak ...
and
Qatar
Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...
on the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...
coast) across the width of the
Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula (, , or , , ) or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated north-east of Africa on the Arabian plate. At , comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.
Geographically, the ...
to the
Red Sea
The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...
. It was built during the
Iran-Iraq war. The line was converted to carry natural gas, but was converted back to carry crude oil. The pipeline is actually twinned pipes,
[ and as of 2018 had a capacity of 5 million BPD.]
History
The pipeline was built in the 1980s, "amid fears that the Iran-Iraq war would cut off shipping through the Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz ( ''Tangeh-ye Hormoz'' , ''Maḍīq Hurmuz'') is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the open ocean and is one of the world's most strategica ...
."[
The 2019 East–West Pipeline attack was a Houthi drone attack that targeted the Pipeline on 14 May 2019. The attack temporarily shut down the pipeline before it was reopened.]
References
Oil pipelines in Saudi Arabia
{{Pipeline-stub