Oil arriving at Egypt's Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir has more than doubled, and most of it is Saudi crude. Shipping data firm Kpler tracked the change, showing that Saudi Arabia is routing barrels through a pipeline crossing Egyptian territory rather than sending tankers through the Red Sea. The rerouting reflects a decision to move oil differently, not a change in how much Saudi Arabia produces.
What the pipeline route means in practice
A pipeline bypass means oil that would normally travel by tanker instead moves overland through a pipeline and is loaded onto ships at the far end. Saudi crude enters the Egyptian pipeline system and exits at Sidi Kerir on the Mediterranean coast, completing that leg without any tanker transiting the Red Sea.
The Red Sea connects the Arabian Gulf to the Suez Canal. For Saudi oil heading to buyers further north and west, it is the normal route. Attacks on commercial vessels in the waterway have made that passage a recognized hazard, and the pipeline across Egypt is the physical alternative: it carries the oil overland, keeping ships out of the contested corridor entirely.
A doubling at one port that measures real risk
Exports from Sidi Kerir have more than doubled, according to Kpler's vessel tracking. That is a count of actual shipments loaded, not a projection. The scale of the shift, concentrated at a single port, points to a systematic change in routing rather than short-term noise.
Most of the crude is Saudi in origin. The kingdom is accepting a longer overland leg for each barrel in exchange for keeping those barrels out of a dangerous waterway. That trade-off shows up in the load figures at Sidi Kerir before it shows up anywhere else.
What this source does not say
Kpler's data tracks what moves and from where. It does not specify how long this rerouting has been running, what additional cost the pipeline leg adds per barrel, or whether Saudi Arabia has adjusted production levels in response to the disruption. The more-than-doubled export figure at Sidi Kerir is a confirmed fact of physical movement. The financial terms behind that decision are not yet in the data.