Symbolic imageHouthi blockade halts Saudi oil exports through Bab al-Mandeb; crude reroutes via Suez
After the Houthis declared a maritime embargo on Saudi shipping and struck two tankers in the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia has loaded no crude for export through the Bab al-Mandeb strait from its west coast, according to Kpler data cited by The National. Cargoes for Asian buyers are instead moving through the Suez Canal, a route that adds weeks and cost. The rebels also claim to have hit Aramco sites at Jizan and Yanbu, a claim neither the Saudi government nor Aramco has confirmed.
China Egypt Iran Saudi ArabiaCosco ShippingHouthi movementSaudi AramcoSaudi-led coalition
What happened
Early last week the Houthis began warning civilian vessels by radio not to sail to Saudi ports, and some ships turned back rather than transit Bab al-Mandeb, the strait linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, according to Rzeczpospolita. In the night from Wednesday to Thursday the group attacked two tankers in the Red Sea with missiles and drones, setting one on fire. On Saturday the Houthis said they had fired missiles and drones at Saudi Aramco facilities in Jizan and Yanbu; The National reports that neither the Saudi government nor Aramco has confirmed the claim, and that if confirmed it would be the first direct attack on the kingdom's oil infrastructure since 2022. Since the embargo declaration, no crude has been loaded for export via Bab al-Mandeb from Saudi Arabia's west coast, according to Kpler data cited by The National, while exports through the Suez Canal rose 106 per cent in the week of the announcement to 1.06 million barrels per day. Kpler put average flows through Bab al-Mandeb in June at 6.2 million barrels per day; the Yanbu terminal handled 92 per cent of Saudi seaborne crude exports that month, fed by the East-West Pipeline that was pushed to a record seven million barrels per day in March after Iran blockaded the Strait of Hormuz. Tankers loaded before the embargo, mostly Chinese-operated, have continued through the strait, including two Cosco-managed vessels that passed on 23 July; The National calls reports of tankers switching off their AIS transponders unconfirmed. Reuters reports that Red Sea shipping has slowed and that most Gulf equity markets eased after the attacks.
The camps
The Houthis, who control Sanaa, the port of Hodeidah and territory holding 22 to 25 million people, present the blockade as a declared naval embargo on Saudi shipping and claim the strikes on Jizan and Yanbu as their own, having earlier described them as a response to Saudi-led coalition strikes on their installations in Hodeidah. Riyadh has neither confirmed nor denied that its oil facilities were hit and has answered in practice rather than in words: Aramco, which sells most of its crude on fixed monthly term contracts to Asian buyers, is moving cargoes north into the Mediterranean through Suez instead of east through the strait. Rzeczpospolita argues the rebels did not decide on the blockade alone, describing them as long-standing allies of Iran equipped with advanced Iranian missiles and drones, and framing the episode as Tehran using the Houthis to raise the spectre of a new oil crisis.
The view from outside
The National, published in the UAE and state-affiliated, treats the story primarily as a logistics and cost problem rather than a battlefield one: a cargo from Yanbu to South Korea takes about 24 days via Bab al-Mandeb but roughly 54 days via Suez and around the Cape of Good Hope, and the canal is too shallow for fully laden very large crude carriers, so two Suezmax tankers must replace one VLCC at an estimated additional cost of about two million dollars per cargo. It notes Baltic Exchange rates on 24 July of $382,397 a day for VLCCs against $103,500 for Suezmaxes. From Poland, Rzeczpospolita stresses that European supply routes remain largely intact and that the damage falls mainly on Asian buyers, quoting an energy investor's estimate that a full closure of the strait could add five to ten dollars a barrel.
What's new
The thread has moved from an oil-price story to a direct exchange between the Houthis and Saudi Arabia. Where the previous days brought a Saudi-led coalition strike on Hodeidah and then a Houthi claim of missile and drone fire at Aramco sites in Jizan and Yanbu, the new element is measurable: exports through Bab al-Mandeb from Saudi Arabia's west coast have fallen to nothing and the Suez workaround is now visible in loading data. Rzeczpospolita also records that the earlier truce, forced on the Houthis after intensified bombing in spring 2025, has broken down.
What could happen next
If the embargo holds, Asian refiners face voyages weeks longer and shipping costs that Aramco or its buyers must absorb, while the East-West Pipeline's value as a Hormuz bypass is reduced as long as its Red Sea outlet is exposed. A confirmed strike on Yanbu, rather than an unconfirmed claim, would put pressure on Riyadh to respond militarily and would widen a conflict that already runs through Hodeidah, with the Jizan refinery's 400,000 barrels per day of output replaceable from stockpiles but the export terminal far harder to substitute. Alternatively, renewed naval protection of the corridor, of the kind assembled under US leadership in late 2023, or a negotiated restoration of the Yemen truce could reopen the strait, in which case the Suez detour would unwind as quickly as it appeared.
Houthi movement: Declares a maritime embargo on Saudi shipping, warns vessels away from Saudi ports and claims missile and drone strikes on tankers and on Aramco sites at Jizan and Yanbu as a response to coalition attacks on Hodeidah.
Saudi Arabia: Has not confirmed that its oil facilities were hit and is answering operationally, rerouting crude for Asian buyers through the Suez Canal after loadings via Bab al-Mandeb stopped.
Also involved