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Saudi West Coast Fuel Exports Fall Below 1 Million b/d as Refinery Disruptions Deepen

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Saudi Arabia's west coast refined product exports fell below 1 million barrels per day in July as refinery disruptions tightened Middle East fuel supplies, Kpler said in a Friday note.

Kpler said reduced refinery output and lower loadings at Yanbu drove the export decline, pushing west coast shipments below 1.0 million b/d for the first time since November 2025.

The 400,000 barrels per day Jizan refinery maintained exports at 200,000 b/d in July, matching June levels, before attacks on July 25 forced the facility to halt operations through at least mid-August.

Kpler said two clean product cargoes departed Jizan on July 24, while no additional waterborne loadings have taken place since the attacks shut the refinery.

The disruptions will lift Middle East refinery downtime to about 2.2 million b/d in August, up sharply from around 400,000 b/d in August 2025, according to Kpler estimates.

Kpler said the reduction in regional refining capacity comes as Saudi Arabia's west coast has become an important middle distillate supply hub after Strait of Hormuz tensions curtailed refined product exports from the Middle East Gulf.

Gasoil and diesel accounted for more than half of the region's 970,000 b/d refined product exports in 2025, underscoring the importance of west coast Saudi shipments, Kpler said.

Gasoline represented another 20% of the region's refined product exports in 2025, suggesting extended refinery outages could further tighten Middle East fuel supplies, according to Kpler.

Kpler said confirmed loadings during the first week of August totaled only about 300,000 b/d, although actual exports may be higher as more vessels transit the Red Sea with Automatic Identification System transponders switched off to reduce security risks.

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