By Tsvetana Paraskova of OilPrice.com
The Houthi threats to shipping in the Red Sea and its chokepoint, the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, have forced at least one oil tanker carrying Saudi crude to Asia to choose the much longer route through the Suez Canal, the Mediterranean, and around Africa.
The supertanker Olympic Luck, partially laden with Saudi crude at Yanbu on the Red Sea, transited the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean late on Sunday, according to shipping data monitored by Bloomberg.
The U-turn from Bab el-Mandeb indicates that some tanker owners aren’t willing to risk crossing southward into the Arabian Sea on the much shorter route to Asia, as the Iran-aligned Houthis have threatened – and struck – Saudi tankers in the Red Sea in recent days.
The Greece-flagged Greece-owned Olympic Luck is signaling an unspecified location in Asia, according to shipping fixtures seen by Bloomberg.
Other tankers continue to transit the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but in numbers that are the lowest in months, various ship-tracking services showed this weekend.
Traffic through Bab el-Mandeb has materially slowed, and some vessel owners have their tankers move northward in the Red Sea toward the Suez
