Oman has presented Iran with a plan backed by Gulf states to manage the Strait of Hormuz, including collecting voluntary fees for using it, a Gulf source and a Western diplomat told Reuters.
A senior Iranian source told Reuters that Tehran had yet to respond to the Omani proposals, intended to serve as a basis to end the disruption to trade through the strait caused by the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran. Before the war began on February 28, about a fifth of global oil supplies flowed through the strait.
U.S. President Donald Trump, who abruptly called off a two-week bombing campaign over the weekend in his latest strategic U-turn, reported "good talks" underway with Iran but threatened to restart strikes unless negotiations deliver. Iran has denied seeking to resume talks with the U.S.
In a move that would reduce crude demand, Saudi Aramco shut down its 400,000-barrel-per-day Jizan oil refinery in Saudi Arabia on July 27 following an attack by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen on Saturday, a note from consultancy IIR seen by Reuters showed.
The Houthi conflict has disrupted shipping through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait linking the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, creating a second chokepoint for oil flows. Saudi Aramco has considered a new pricing mechanism for crude loading from Egypt's Sidi Kerir port for Asia to reflect higher shipping costs after re-routing exports through the Suez Mediterranean pipeline.
On Monday, 28 vessels passed through the Bab el-Mandeb, a four-day high, while traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remained low, according to Kpler shipping data.
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