DOHA, July 21. /TASS/. Saudi Arabia’s oil shipments through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait have fallen by 36% over the past two weeks amid the escalating conflict with Yemeni Houthi rebels from the Ansar Allah movement, The National reported, citing data from the analytics firm Kpler.
The Houthis previously announced that a naval blockade on Saudi Arabia had been imposed. According to its statement, the movement reserves the right to comprehensive escalation in response to Riyadh’s actions.
The volumes of oil shipments to Saudi ports on the Red Sea fell to 6.1 mln barrels per day last week from a peak of 9.5 mln barrels per day on June 29, according to the newspaper.
The route via the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has become a vital corridor for Riyadh since the onset of the conflict between Washington and Tehran and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the newspaper said. Saudi authorities are currently rerouting around 70% of their oil to the port of Yanbu al-Bahr in the west of the country. About 12% of global trade passes through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, and its closure would jeopardize roughly a quarter of global oil and gas supplies.