Houthis Blockade Saudi Oil Route, Closing Last Gulf Path

Yemen’s Ansar Allah movement declared a maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia on July 20, ordering an immediate closure of the Bab al-Mandab Strait to Saudi vessels and threatening the kingdom’s last viable crude export route.

The Houthi armed forces said they were imposing “a maritime embargo against the criminal Saudi enemy, based on the equation of an eye for an eye,” framing the move as retaliation for what the group described as a Saudi aerial blockade of Houthi-controlled ports and airports in Yemen. Houthi military spokesman Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree confirmed the embargo would take effect immediately.

The Houthis cited a July 13 airstrike on Sanaa International Airport as the trigger. Yemen’s internationally recognized government claimed responsibility, saying it sought to prevent an Iranian aircraft from landing in the Houthi-held capital.

The blockade targets Saudi Arabia’s primary crude export artery. After Iran’s attacks largely closed the Strait of Hormuz in late February, Saudi Aramco routed exports through the Red Sea port of Yanbu at close to 4 million barrels per day (bpd), Reuters reported.

Saudi crude loadings through Bab al-Mandab had already fallen 36% in the two weeks before the announcement, dropping from 9.5 million bpd to 6.1 million bpd as tankers anticipated Houthi action, The National reported.

With Hormuz already largely shut, an enforced blockade at Bab al-Mandab, the approximately 18-mile-wide chokepoint connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden, would sever the last open maritime corridor for Gulf oil exports.