Saudi Aramco Boosts Gulf Crude Exports via Ras Tanura

Saudi Aramco has sold about 60 million barrels of crude oil from the Ras Tanura Gulf export terminal for September and October 2026 loadings, with cargoes routed through the Strait of Hormuz and transferred ship-to-ship off Sohar in Oman before onward delivery.

The program lifts Saudi Gulf crude exports to roughly 1.0 to 1.5 million barrels matching or slightly exceeding August levels. The crude is marketed as spot cargoes, with major buyers including refiners in China and South Korea, and additional volumes going to India and Japan. European term customers have been told they will receive no Saudi crude in October 2026 under this export pattern.

The routing via Ras Tanura and ship-to-ship transfers off Sohar is described as a commercial workaround to damage on the East-West pipeline and constraints on Yanbu and Red Sea exports. It allows supply to Asian customers to be maintained while shifting volumes away from Europe.

On the logistics side, Ras Tanura and nearby Gulf terminals have been loading up to two very large crude carriers (VLCCs) equivalent to about 4 million barrels of loadings on peak days during the ramp-up. Ship-to-ship operations off Sohar use shuttle tankers to carry crude from Ras Tanura through Hormuz, then transfer cargoes to long-haul VLCCs for delivery to Asia.

For residents, this is a trade-driven move with no consumer-facing steps: there are no published resident fees, no Absher, Muqeem, Qiwa, Najiz, Nafath, or Tawakkalna procedures, and no local administrative charges tied to these cargoes. Pricing is described only in general market terms, with exact per-barrel figures and official list prices for these specific 60 million barrels not disclosed. The story matters as a signal of how the Kingdom is keeping its energy trade flowing to key Asian markets.

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