Juaymah's NGL export trestle nears repair

Three months after a span of the propane/butane export trestle at Saudi Aramco's Juaymah NGL terminal collapsed on 23 February, satellite imagery shows the structure being rebuilt — and the repair approaching completion.

Juaymah moves roughly 3.5% of the world's seaborne LPG. Aramco told buyers the outage would run through May, idling cargoes that normally total around 450,000 tonnes a month — close to 60% of it bound for India. Asian markets felt it quickly: Far East propane futures for March jumped nearly 5% after the incident surfaced, to above $590/tonne, their highest since April 2025.

The wide view orients the damage. The export line runs offshore from the tank farm; the breach sits well out over the water, and onshore a dark plume marks the emergency flaring as the lines were depressurised after the failure.

Three optical passes — 5, 13 and 26 May — track the work. Through the first half of the month, support vessels and barges crowd the damaged span. By 26 May the on-water activity has thinned and the trestle line reads continuous again, consistent with works winding down.

The next signal is commercial, not structural: a restart notice and the resumption of loadings. It should surface first in Aramco's June contract-price differentials and cargo nominations — where this story finally moves back on-stream.