Saudi crude shipments from Yanbu on the Red Sea have fallen 41% since March, sliding to about 2.39 million barrels per day by June, according to Wood Mackenzie vessel-tracking data. The Kingdom had redirected exports there to move away from the Strait of Hormuz, but Houthi forces have now begun striking tankers in the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
Saudi Arabia redirected virtually all its crude exports through the East-West pipeline to Yanbu when the Iran war began, shifting shipments off the Strait of Hormuz to the Red Sea terminal.
Shipments from Yanbu fell to around 2.39 million barrels per day by June, down 41% from a March peak of 4.07 million bpd, Wood Mackenzie vessel-tracking and cargo data showed. Set against total Saudi exports, volumes have slumped 66% from January's roughly 7.96 million bpd across both Gulf and Red Sea terminals.
According to Wood Mackenzie's Ian Solis: "For months, the market treated Yanbu as the answer to Hormuz risk". The problem, he added, is that Yanbu carries a chokepoint of its own — a sustained Houthi blockade of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait would cost Asia a major crude supply artery.
That threat is no longer hypothetical. Yemen's Houthis, allies of Iran, said late Wednesday they had struck two Saudi tankers in the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint, claiming the vessels had violated a naval blockade the group declared earlier this week.
For Saudi Arabia, the diversification away from the Strait of Hormuz may now mean dependence on another chokepoint in a war zone.
Source: Oilprice.com
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