By Rania El Gamal DUBAI, July 26 (Reuters) – Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia said on Thursday it was “temporarily halting” all oil shipments through the strategic Red Sea shipping lane of Bab al-Mandeb after Two VLCC Tankers Attacked by Houthis, Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement.
Saudi Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said in a statement sent by his ministry that the Houthis had attacked Two VLCC Tankers Attacked by Houthis in the Red Sea on Wednesday morning, one of which sustained minimal damage.
“Saudi Arabia is temporarily halting all oil shipments through Bab al-Mandeb Strait immediately until the situation becomes clearer and the maritime transit through Bab al-Mandeb is safe,” the statement said.
Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Houthis in a three-year war, lies beside the southern mouth of the Red Sea, one of the most important trade routes in the world for oil tankers, which pass near Yemen’s shores while heading from the Middle East through the Suez Canal to Europe.
Saudi Arabia accuses regional arch-foe Iran of supplying missiles to the Houthis, something Tehran and the Houthis deny.
The Western-backed coalition of Sunni Muslim states which Saudi Arabia leads had launched an offensive last month to wrest control of Yemen’s main port city of Hodeidah from the Houthis in a bid to cut off the main supply line of the movement, which holds the most populated areas of Yemen including the capital Sanaa.
The alliance has called a halt to the offensive to give U.N. efforts a chance to reach a political solution that would avert an assault on the port, a lifeline for millions of Yemenis, which the United Nations fears risks triggering a famine in the impoverished country.
Most exports from the Gulf that transit the Suez Canal and the SUMED Pipeline also pass through Bab al-Mandeb strait. An estimated 4.8 million barrels per day of crude oil and refined petroleum products flowed through this waterway in 2016 toward Europe, the United States, and Asia, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
The Bab al-Mandeb Strait, where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, is only 20 km (12 miles) wide, making hundreds of ships potentially an easy target.
The ministry statement said that the two VLCC Tankers Attacked by Houthis were operated by Saudi shipping company Bahri, which had earlier said that one of its VLCCs had suffered minor damage in an incident in the Red Sea, without elaborating.
“The two million barrels capacity for each tanker were full of crude oil cargo at the time and were headed for export. One of the VLCCs sustained minimal damage,” Falih said.
“However, fortunately, there were no injuries or oil spill that would have resulted in catastrophic environmental damage. Efforts are currently underway to move the damaged ship to the nearest Saudi port.”
