The Houthi threat to Saudi crude oil shipments through the Red Sea has not abated, and an increasing number of tankers loaded with Saudi crude appear to be transiting the Bab el-Mandeb chokepoint in dark mode — with their AIS transponders switched off.

The Bab el-Mandeb Strait, which connects the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea, is one of the world's most critical maritime oil transit chokepoints. Rerouting around it — whether via the Suez Canal to the north or the long detour around the Cape of Good Hope to the south — adds transit time and freight costs for exporters.

Two tankers that loaded Saudi crude at the Red Sea port of Yanbu likely exited the Bab el-Mandeb Strait heading south with their transponders disabled, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing vessel-tracking data it is monitoring.

The Greece-owned Suezmax tanker Lesvos and the Indian-flagged supertanker Desh Vaibhav were last transmitting near the port of Yanbu on Saturday before reappearing on AIS monitoring systems offshore southern Oman on Monday, according to the data.

Satellite imagery of the port of Yanbu showed at least five tankers berthed there on Saturday, which may have been the busiest day at the Saudi Red Sea port since the Houthis threatened to disrupt Saudi oil exports two weeks ago.

Since the Houthis announced their intention to choke off Saudi shipments, Saudi Arabia has re-routed a portion of its exports northward to Egypt and the Suez Canal, while other vessels have increasingly gone dark while transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to the south. Sidi Kerir, on Egypt's Mediterranean coast, is the terminal of the SUMED pipeline — the infrastructure that allows crude to move from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean without transiting the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, making it a natural workaround for Saudi exports seeking to avoid the southern chokepoint.

Last week, six tankers turned away from Bab el-Mandeb in the Arabian Sea after Houthi threats to Saudi shipping and actual attacks on tankers prompted Saudi Arabia to once again re-route its crude oil exports toward Egypt. The tankers were indicating destinations including Gibraltar or the South African ports of Durban or Algoa Bay — all major refueling hubs — according to vessel-tracking data compiled by Bloomberg at the end of last week. Vessels diverted around the Cape of Good Hope face significantly longer voyages than those using the Suez Canal shortcut, increasing ton-mile demand for crude shipping.

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 adjusts its export tactics once again to avoid the emerging threat at Bab el-Mandeb.

Source: OilPrice.com