Vessels trickle through Strait of Hormuz as Middle East conflict persists

Attacks by the Houthis on Saudi Aramco's East-West pipeline, a key alternative route for Saudi oil flows during the Iran war, have prompted the state energy firm to increase exports through the Strait of Hormuz this month and next.

A total of 22 tankers, mostly VLCCs, carrying 42 million barrels of crude, exited the Hormuz strait in the week of September 13, Kpler data showed. Saudi Arabia and Iraq each accounted for 43% of the volume.

At the Bab el-Mandeb Strait at the southern end of the Red Sea, 51 vessels made the crossing, with 33 exiting the strait over the weekend, including an Aframax-sized tanker carrying about 700,000 barrels of Saudi crude, Kpler data showed.

That was down from 57 vessels in the previous weekend.

There have been no visible oil loadings from Saudi Arabia's Yanbu port on the Red Sea since September 16.