Can the Suez save Asian oil consumers after Houthis shut Bab al-Mandeb?

What the report says

Al Jazeera reports that two tankers carrying Saudi crude toward Asia changed course in the Red Sea after Yemen’s Houthis declared a blockade of Saudi ports, raising concern over the security of another major oil shipping route. Citing shipping analytics firm Kpler, the report says the Rodos and Xin Long Yang had loaded a combined 2.8 million barrels at Saudi Arabia’s western port of Yanbu before turning north instead of continuing toward Bab al-Mandeb, the strait between Yemen and the Horn of Africa.

The development matters because Saudi Arabia had been using Yanbu and Red Sea routes to reduce reliance on the Strait of Hormuz, where traffic has already been disrupted by the US-Iran conflict described in the report. Kpler said Yanbu exported about 4.1 million barrels per day in June, representing a large share of Saudi crude that otherwise would have moved through Hormuz. Al Jazeera says 12 Yanbu-loaded crude vessels remained in the Red Sea, while two others near Bab al-Mandeb had disabled tracking transponders.

Asian oil buyers are especially exposed. According to Kpler figures cited by Al Jazeera, about 6 million barrels per day of crude currently move through Bab al-Mandeb to Asia, with roughly two-thirds coming from Saudi Arabia and another 1.9 million barrels per day from Russia. India is described as the most vulnerable, while Pakistan, the Philippines, South Korea, Japan, Taiwan and China also have notable shares of imports passing through the strait.

One possible workaround would send oil from Yanbu north through Egypt’s Suez Canal, into the Mediterranean, around Africa’s Cape of Good Hope and then to Asia. Analysts cited by Al Jazeera said that could avoid both Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb, but at the cost of weeks of delay, higher fuel and freight expenses, and added logistical pressure on Saudi exports.