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Saudis Resume Oil Exports Through Red Sea Lane

Saudis Resume Oil Exports Through Red Sea Lane
Saudis Resume Oil Exports Through Red Sea Lane

Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia said on Saturday it has resumed all oil shipments through the strategic Red Sea shipping lane of Bab al-Mandeb. Saudi Arabia temporarily halted oil shipments through the lane on July 25 after attacks on two oil tankers by Yemen’s Houthi movement, Reuters reported.

A statement by the Energy Ministry said shipments had resumed on Saturday. “The decision to resume oil shipment through the strait of Bab al-Mandeb was made after the leadership of the coalition has taken necessary measures to protect the coalition states’ ships,” Energy Minister Khalid al-Falih said in the statement. Saudi Aramco confirmed that shipping had resumed effective immediately. “The company is careful to continue monitoring and evaluating the current situation in coordination with the relevant bodies and take all necessary procedures to ensure safety,” Aramco said in a statement.

Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has been battling the Houthis in a three-year war, lies along the southern end of the Red Sea, one of the most important trade routes in the world for oil tankers. The tankers pass near Yemen’s shores while heading from the Middle East through the Suez Canal to Europe.

The Bab al-Mandeb strait, where the Red Sea meets the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, is only 20 km (12 miles) wide, making hundreds of ships potentially easy targets.

After Saudi’s decision to halt shipments, Yemen’s Houthi group said on July 31 it would halt attacks in the Red Sea for two weeks to support peace efforts. The Saudi coalition intervened in Yemen’s civil war in 2015 to restore the toppled government of fugitive president, Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

 

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