The Houthi threat to shipments of Saudi crude oil from the Red Sea hasn’t abated and more tankers laden with Saudi oil appeared to have made the transit through the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint in dark mode.
Two tankers that had loaded Saudi crude at the Red Sea port of Yanbu have likely exited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait in southern direction with their transponders off, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing vessel-tracking data it is monitoring.
The Greece-owned Lesvos tanker of the Suezmax size and the supertanker Desh Vaibhav, flying the Indian flag, were last transmitting near the Yanbu port on Saturday, before re-appearing on the AIS monitoring systems offshore southern Oman on Monday, according to the data.
Satellite images at the port of Yanbu showed at least five tankers berthed there on Saturday, which may have been the busiest day at the Saudi port on the Red Sea since the Houthis threatened to disrupt Saudi oil exports two weeks ago.
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Since the Houthis announced they would attempt to choke off Saudi shipments, Saudi Arabia has re-routed part of its exports northward to Egypt and the Suez Canal while the other vessels have increasingly gone dark while transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to the south.
Last week, six tankers turned away in the Arabian Sea from Bab el-Mandeb after the Houthi threats to Saudi shipping and actual attacks on tankers prompted Saudi Arabia to re-route its crude oil exports, again, to Egypt.
The tankers were indicating destinations such as either Gibraltar or the South African ports of Durban or Algoa Bay, all of which are major refueling hubs, according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg at the end of last week.
Separately, more than half a dozen empty supertankers were en route to Egypt’s Sidi Kerir port last week to pick up Saudi crude, as the world’s top crude oil exporter is re-routing – again – its export tactics to avoid the new threat at Bab el-Mandeb.
By Charles Kennedy for Oilprice.com
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