Saudi Arabia is considering expanding its main east-west crude pipeline while Israel is promoting an overland corridor through Eilat, as threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Red Sea drive renewed efforts to reduce reliance on maritime chokepoints.
Saudi Arabia appears to have the more viable option, building on existing infrastructure and preliminary talks with Gulf neighbors. Israel, meanwhile, is promoting a more ambitious corridor that would integrate it into the Gulf’s energy export network, though the plan depends on Saudi approval and faces political and environmental obstacles.
Reuters, citing five sources familiar with the matter, reported that the proposed expansion would increase the capacity of the East–West Pipeline, also known as Petroline, by about 2 million barrels per day. The pipeline carries crude from the kingdom’s eastern oil fields to the Red Sea port of Yanbu.
The blue line running across the middle of Saudi Arabia shows the East–West Pipeline, also known as Petroline.The pipeline currently has a capacity of about 7 million barrels per day. Roughly 2 million barrels supply refineries on the kingdom’s west coast, while 5 million barrels are allocated for exports.
The Saudi route is not intended to serve the kingdom alone. Riyadh is also holding preliminary talks with Gulf states that lack clear alternatives to the Strait of Hormuz for exporting oil or gas, including Kuwait, Bahrain, and Qatar.
“We are in discussions with our brothers in Saudi Arabia and the UAE to examine how to expand their pipeline system to accommodate Kuwaiti crude,” Kuwait Petroleum Corporation CEO Sheikh Nawaf Al-Sabah said during the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Forum last month, according to Reuters.
The project remains in its early stages. Reuters quoted one source as saying the expansion would take years and require billions of dollars in investment, along with changes to Saudi crude-oil pricing mechanisms. It remains unclear whether the additional capacity would come from upgrading existing infrastructure or building a new pipeline. One option under consideration is adding a smaller line to transport refined petroleum products.
The pipeline became strategically important after the war with Iran and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Reuters reported in April that hours after a ceasefire was announced, Iran attacked the pipeline, hitting the kingdom’s only outlet for crude exports after Hormuz was shut down.
Rather than expanding an existing export route, Israel is promoting an entirely new corridor. Energy Minister Eli Cohen has proposed linking Saudi Arabia to the Red Sea city of Eilat, with oil then transported through the Eilat–Ashkelon pipeline to the Mediterranean port of Ashkelon before being shipped onward to Europe.
In an interview with Reuters, Cohen said the proposed route, stretching about 700 kilometers, could provide an overland solution that bypasses both Iran at the Strait of Hormuz and the Houthis in the Red Sea.
Israel already has infrastructure that could support such a route. The Europe Asia Pipeline Company (EAPC) says it operates a 42-inch, 254-kilometer pipeline linking the Eilat oil terminal on the Red Sea with the port of Ashkelon on the Mediterranean, along with ports and storage facilities with a combined capacity of 3.7 million cubic meters.
The project’s missing link, however, is a connection between the Gulf, or Saudi Arabia, and Eilat. Cohen acknowledged that the infrastructure needed to connect Arab states with Israel would have to be built if those countries were willing, leaving the project dependent on Saudi or broader Gulf approval that has yet to materialize.
This is not the first time the Eilat–Ashkelon pipeline has been proposed as an overland oil bridge between the Gulf and Europe. Following the Abraham Accords, EAPC signed a preliminary memorandum of understanding in 2020 to transport Emirati oil to Europe through Eilat and Ashkelon, an arrangement promoted as saving time, fuel, and costs compared with using the Suez Canal.
That proposal later ran into environmental restrictions within Israel, particularly in Eilat. Reuters reported in 2024 that the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sought to ease limits on the amount of oil that could be unloaded in Eilat, while the Environmental Protection Ministry and Eilat’s mayor opposed expanding oil activity because of risks to coral reefs and tourism.
A 2025 report by Israel’s State Comptroller also noted that the Environmental Protection Ministry adopted a “zero additional risk” policy for the Gulf of Eilat in 2021, meaning oil activity could not be expanded without a government decision. By contrast, a government team led by the Prime Minister’s Office concluded that expanding oil transport through Eilat would offer benefits, particularly for energy security and operational continuity during emergencies.
The competing proposals underscore how regional producers are looking for alternatives to vulnerable maritime routes, either by expanding existing Gulf infrastructure or creating a new corridor through Israel.
