Asian refiners demand alternative pickup points for Saudi crude amid Yemeni blockade of Red Sea ports
Recent retaliatory attacks by the Yemeni army have ravaged the kingdom’s assets, including a Saudi Aramco facility and other sites
Asian oil refiners are seeking alternative pickup points to retrieve Saudi crude oil outside the Red Sea, citing concerns over the risks and threats posed by the Yemeni blockade on Riyadh, according to a Bloomberg report published on 17 August.
Saudi oil giant Aramco – which has come under devastating retaliatory missile strikes by Yemeni forces – has demanded that Asian refiners pick up crude at the kingdom’s Red Sea port of Yanbu, despite the risks.
The Ansarallah-led Yemeni Armed Forces (YAF) has targeted Yanbu in recent days.
At least two Asia-based oil refiners have requested from Saudi Aramco that they pick up their oil cargoes next month from Egypt’s Sidi Kerir port instead of Yanbu, Bloomberg cited anonymous trading sources as saying on Monday.
One of these refiners might skip its monthly allocation altogether due to higher costs of rerouting around Africa – as was the case during the first Yemeni blockade launched in support of Gaza in late 2023.
Aramco has directed the majority of Chinese, Taiwanese, and Indian oil refiners to pick up their oil cargo from Yanbu. Japanese and South Korean refiners were given Sidi Kerir port as a pick-up point.
Some of the refiners are pushing back against Aramco’s demands. The report coincided with the announcement of new operations by the YAF.
“The YAF … managed to target a military landing ship belonging to the Saudi enemy, along with four accompanying military boats, in the Red Sea off the coast of Mokha. The attack was carried out with … ballistic missiles, which struck accurately,” it said.
“The operation resulted in the ship being completely engulfed in flames, while several of the boats were sunk and the remainder caught fire,” the report went on to say.
The YAF added that it was “closely monitoring” the Saudi military buildup and vowed to continue targeting the kingdom’s assets.
Yemen “will continue to establish the equation of ‘blockade for blockade’ and target all Saudi military build-ups wherever they may be,” the YAF stated.
The Aden-based, Saudi-backed Yemeni government has vowed a response to multiple Yemeni missile attacks targeting Riyadh’s assets at Mokha port over the past several days.
New footage showed the aftermath of one of the YAF attacks, revealing a ravaged port.
Yemeni operations have also caused major damage at a Saudi Aramco facility in the kingdom’s Jazan region, forcing the facility shut.
Recent Yemeni operations targeting the kingdom and its assets coincide with Saudi efforts to form a Red Sea naval coalition.
Reports also say the kingdom is planning a major assault on Yemen involving land and sea operations.
The Yemeni escalation was prompted by last month’s Saudi strikes on Sanaa International Airport, which has been under blockade by the kingdom for more than a decade since Riyadh launched its war on Yemen in 2015.
A 2023 peace process failed to end the war but froze the escalation until Ansarallah began mobilizing to expel Saudi forces from Yemen this year.
Sanaa has warned that further Saudi escalation will be met with severe retaliation.