Houthi threats in the Red Sea have pushed at least one tanker carrying Saudi crude to Asia off the short Bab el-Mandeb route and onto the far longer Suez Canal passage. Ship-tracking services put traffic through the chokepoint at its lowest in months, while loadings at Yanbu have gone AIS-dark. Saudi crude keeps moving, but along split routes.
At least one oil tanker carrying Saudi crude to Asia has chosen the much longer route through the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean, and around Africa instead of crossing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, after Houthi threats to Red Sea shipping.
The supertanker Olympic Luck, partially laden with Saudi crude at Yanbu on the Red Sea, transited the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean late on Sunday, according to shipping data monitored by Bloomberg. The Greece-flagged, Greece-owned vessel is signaling an unspecified location in Asia, according to shipping fixtures seen by Bloomberg.
That U-turn from Bab el-Mandeb indicates some tanker owners are not willing to risk crossing southward into the Arabian Sea on the much shorter route to Asia, as the Iran-aligned Houthis have threatened — and struck — Saudi tankers in the Red Sea in recent days.
Bab el-Mandeb traffic falls to its lowest in months
Other tankers continue to transit the strait, but in numbers that are the lowest in months, various ship-tracking services showed this weekend. Traffic has slowed materially, and some vessel owners are moving their tankers northward in the Red Sea toward the Suez Canal — a detour that makes the journey about a month longer than the Bab el-Mandeb passage.
Last week, a Denmark-flagged oil and chemical products tanker, the Torm Innovation, also turned away from Bab el-Mandeb and moved north toward the Suez Canal. It had loaded products at Yanbu and was in the East Mediterranean early on Monday, according to MarineTraffic shipping data.
Windward says Saudi crude has bifurcated
Reduced traffic through the strait has not stopped Saudi barrels. According to maritime intelligence firm Windward: "Saudi crude has not stopped moving. It has bifurcated," the firm said on Sunday.
Yanbu port has transitioned to entirely AIS-dark tanker operations at berth as vessels shield against a Houthi hit list, Windward added. Saudi Arabia has also established a working alternative export route via the SUMED pipeline in Egypt and around the Cape of Good Hope, adding cost and voyage time but demonstrating the market's adaptability, the firm noted.
Chinese-linked cargo, meanwhile, continues transiting Bab al-Mandeb under the Houthis' established carve-out.
Source: Oilprice.com
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