Aramco restarts Ras Tanura loadings after a four-month halt
The world's biggest oil port reopens to tankers as the Gulf supply shut-in unwinds
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Summary
Saudi Aramco resumed crude loadings at Ras Tanura, the world's largest oil-export terminal, on Friday after a near four-month halt, tanker-tracking data showed. Two VLCCs run by state carrier Bahri were loading and a third was inbound, each able to lift about 2 million barrels. Aramco had not shipped from the Gulf port since March 8, diverting cargoes to the Red Sea terminal at Yanbu after Iran's blockade of Hormuz during its war with the US and Israel shut the waterway. Brent has fallen for a third straight week as the war premium unwinds. Rystad Energy estimates Gulf shut-in output dropped to 9.6 million bpd in mid-June from 11.7 million three weeks earlier.
The split
Reuters and Gulf Times read the restart as confirmation that Gulf flows are normalising and prices have further to fall. Energy News Beat, working off Sentinel-1 radar, is more cautious: tankers are loading, but the empty ballast carriers needed to sustain exports are not yet streaming back in, hinting at lingering owner caution after recent attacks on shipping. CGTN carried the restart plainly as a supply-positive event, without the war-premium framing.
By the numbers
- 2 million barrels, capacity of each Bahri VLCC seen loading
- March 8, date of the last Ras Tanura cargo before the halt
- 4 million bpd, Saudi crude exports over the prior three months, down from 7 million in February
- 9.6 million bpd, estimated Gulf shut-in output mid-June, from 11.7 million three weeks earlier
- 3, consecutive weekly declines in Brent as the war premium drains
Why it matters
Ras Tanura handles the bulk of Saudi seaborne crude, so its reopening is the single clearest marker that the Hormuz disruption is reversing. A full Gulf recovery, which Rystad expects by year-end, would push barrels back into a market already pricing out the conflict and pressure OPEC+ discipline as members chase volume.
What to watch
- Whether inbound ballast VLCC traffic into the Gulf picks up, the real test of a sustained ramp
- Aramco's August official selling prices, a signal of how hard it will compete for Asian buyers
- Whether Brent holds above the post-ceasefire floor or breaks lower
- Any renewed incident near Hormuz that re-freezes the recovery