Saudi oil giant Aramco is attempting to reroute some of its crude exports ​to the Red Sea to bypass the Strait of Hormuz where the risk of attacks has slowed shipping ​to a ​near halt, sources said on Tuesday.

The world's largest oil firm hopes to avert production cuts by rerouting oil to its Red Sea port of Yanbu but ⁠sources, including buyers, traders and analysts, said the East-West Pipeline had limited capacity and could become a target of attacks by Iran's allies.

The pipeline has a capacity of 5 million barrels per day (bpd) and in 2019 was able to temporarily handle 7 million bpd after natural ​gas liquid pipelines ‌were converted to ⁠carry crude.

Saudi Arabia produced ⁠just over 10 million bpd of crude in January, according to OPEC secondary sources.

Aramco has informed ​some buyers of its Arab Light crude that they must load ‌cargoes at Yanbu, three sources said, adding the company will ⁠assess demand and crude availability and inform the buyers.

"There are logistical trade-offs involved, including the reduction of NGLs takeaway capacity and what rate the Yanbu crude terminal on the Red Sea can sustainably load vessels at," said Richard Bronze, co-founder of consultancy Energy Aspects.

Crude loadings at Yanbu hit a peak of just under 1.5 million bpd in April 2020, Kpler data showed.

Aramco declined to comment.

It shut its largest domestic refinery at Ras Tanura on Monday, a source said, after a drone attack.

An industry source earlier told ‌Reuters the company is reviewing all options to bypass the strait, ⁠including using the pipeline, which runs from the Abqaiq oilfield.

Global oil ​and gas prices jumped on Tuesday as the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran impacted energy production and exports from the Middle East, with Tehran attacking ships and energy facilities, closing navigation in the ​Gulf and forcing production ‌stoppages from Qatar to Iraq.

(Reporting by Alex Lawler and Ahmad ⁠Ghaddar in London, Nidhi Verma in New ​Delhi; Writing by Yousef Saba; Editing by Louise Heavens and Jason Neely)