And the Damietta attack does not necessarily imply any immediate threat to the canal, said Aly Blakeway, head of Atlantic LNG at S&P Global Energy. "The market isn't pricing in disruption to the canal at this stage," Blakeway said. Despite the attack, oil prices fell on Thursday with traders reacting to Iranian-Omani talks on Hormuz.
The Suez Canal Authority did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Long, uncertain route to market
Iran has threatened to stop all Middle Eastern energy exports, saying that no oil should flow from the region while the United States blockades Iranian tankers.
The Houthis announced a blockade on all Saudi shipping - a category that may include any vessels seeking to carry crude to the Mediterranean after loading at Yanbu.
They have also both demonstrated that the canal zone is within the range of their drones and rockets, having repeatedly fired both at Israel, though the long distances involved give more opportunity to bring down projectiles.
That fact alone may now raise insurance prices, said Martin Senior, head of LNG pricing at Argus.
"Insurers may also command higher Additional War Risk Premiums for Suez in light of the (Egypt) attack, given the increased risk to shipping and energy infrastructure in the region," he said, while noting that Iran had not made any specific threats.
Shipping companies were already re-evaluating their security arrangements for ships around Egypt’s Mediterranean ports near the Suez Canal, a maritime security source said.
In Egypt, the attack is not necessarily seen as evidence that Suez is at risk. "The canal is heavily guarded and secured around the clock," said Wael Kaddour, a former Suez Canal Authority board member.
Even before the attack, Middle Eastern oil was taking an increasingly long, complex and expensive route to reach global markets.
"Yanbu cargoes accounted for around 15% of Asia's seaborne crude/condensate imports in June, so sustained disruption has meaningful implications for Asian refiners — routing via Suez instead of Bab el-Mandeb more than doubles voyage times to Northeast Asia, delaying arrivals by roughly a month," said Morris.
Moving large volumes through Suez is awkward for other reasons too. Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs) have too deep a draught to traverse Suez fully laden and have to offload some crude through the Sumed pipeline before reloading it in the Mediterranean.
Still, more crude could still flow through Suez and Sumed. Last week 1.4 million barrels a day of oil were lifted from Sidi Kerir, compared to its historical weekly peak of 2.1 million bpd and Sumed's capacity of 2.5 million bpd.
Morris said around 10 VLCCs were likely to load at Sidi Kerir in the coming weeks, mainly serving Asian refiners.
That capacity - along with the uncertain outlook for Hormuz and Bab el-Mandeb traffic - underscores why Suez could be so important a route in the current crisis and why any threat to its operations could hit so hard.
"An attack anywhere within the canal region would substantially increase war risk insurance premiums. It would also substantially change the security assessment of the region," said Corey Ranslem, CEO of maritime security group Dryad Global.
"Disruption to the Suez Canal would have an almost immediate impact on prices. The inflationary pressure from longer voyages, higher freight, would be translated to the consumers almost immediately," said Matthew Wright, principal freight analyst at Kpler.
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