Details on the targeted Saudi Aramco’s oil pumping stations

Oil pipelines at a refinery
Oil pipelines at a refinery

Saudi Arabia announced a limited air attack by drone to Saudi Aramco's two oil pumping stations between 6:30 and 6:30 on Tuesday morning. The two oil pumping stations are connected by two lines conveying natural gas and crude oil.

The attack targeted the oil pumping stations nos. 8 and 9, which support the flow of oil and gas through the gas and oil pipelines from the eastern region through Dawadmi and Afif near Riyadh to Yanbu on the Red Sea.

In 1982, two main pipelines linking oil production facilities were established in the eastern region of Yanbu.

One of the pipelines carries natural gas from gas treatment facilities in the Shadqam area, 1,871 kilometers from Yanbu.

The other pipeline, which runs for 1,200 kilometers, transfers crude oil from the Abqaiq area.

The two pipelines, known as the East-West Pipeline, share the route, and they are the most advanced hydrocarbon pipelines that have been monitored and controlled by computer.

The crude oil pipeline, 122 cm in diameter, was initially able to transport 1.85 million barrels of crude oil to Yanbu per day, for refining and export.

Saudi Aramco later increased this capacity to 3.2 million barrels per day by extending a 142 cm (56") parallel tube connected to the existing pumping stations.

The expansion of the pumping station in late 1992 increased the pipeline capacity to 4.5 million barrels per day.

The crude oil terminal in Yanbu includes 11 storage tanks with floating roof -each with a capacity of one million barrels- in addition to a reservoir of 1.5 million barrels per day, the largest reservoir in Saudi Arabia in terms of the diameter, which was added to the increase in production capacity in 1992.

The total storage capacity of the crude oil storage area is 12.5 million barrels per day. There are two tanks with a conical surface with a storage capacity of 250 thousand barrels of ship fuel.

The system is connected to four filling lines, each of 142 cm in diameter, connecting storage tanks with oil tanker filling platforms.

The simultaneous mobilization of carriers within the anchors is the usual operating procedure using a system capable of delivering 130,000 barrels of crude oil an hour per berth.

The facility, which has been in operation since 1981, serves as a terminal of loading tankers for dual pipelines transporting crude oil from the Eastern Province to Yanbu.

The terminal, which was razed to a depth of 32 meters, consists of a sea bridge with four loading berths connected to the beach by a separate holder and bridge.

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