Two China-owned and operated tankers loaded with Saudi crude continued on Thursday to travel in the Red Sea toward the Bab el-Mandeb Strait despite the overnight Houthi attacks on Saudi vessels, ship-tracking data monitored by Bloomberg showed.
The Cosco Shipping-operated tankers, the Xin Long Yang and the Cosnew Lake, are openly broadcasting their Chinese destination as they are traveling through the Red Sea approaching Bab el-Mandeb. Both China-owned tankers had loaded Saudi crude at Yanbu over the past week, according to Bloomberg’s data.
The Middle East conflict took a turn for the worse on Wednesday and early Thursday after the U.S. military launched its 12th consecutive wave of strikes against Iranian military targets, while Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis intensified threats against oil shipping in the Red Sea, and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) claimed an oil tanker had caught fire in the Strait of Hormuz.
The Houthis announced they had expanded their campaign against maritime traffic by targeting Saudi oil shipments through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the key chokepoint on the Red Sea, through which Saudi Arabia has re-directed most of its crude oil shipments to bypass the Strait of Hormuz.
The Houthi group claimed responsibility for attacks on two Saudi tankers, while maritime security reports indicated that the Saudi-flagged tanker Encelia had been struck in the Red Sea.
“We targeted two Saudi oil tankers, named Encelia and Layla, for their violation of the blockade decision issued by the armed forces,” the Houthi forces spokesman, Yahya Saree, said, as quoted by Al Jazeera.
According to Iranian state media, the Houthis now claim to have forced at least nine ships to turn back from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait after announcing a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia.
Early on Thursday, at least two tankers turned away from the Bab el-Mandeb Strait after Yemen’s Houthis said they have struck two Saudi tankers in the chokepoint in the latest Middle East war escalation, saying they had violated the naval blockade that the Yemeni forces declared earlier this week.
According to reports, one of the tankers was loaded with Saudi crude for India and the other was carrying oil to China.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com
- India Keeps Buying Russian Oil at Near-Record Pace Despite Expired Waiver
- Iran Says U.S. Struck Unfinished Nuclear Plant, Warns of Safety Risk
- TotalEnergies Profit Soars 68% as Oil Price Surge Lifts Earnings
