Saudi Aramco has offered additional crude cargoes for loading from Egypt’s Mediterranean port of Sidi Kerir, according to five trading sources, as Houthi threats to Saudi shipping raise risks for southbound Red Sea exports through the Bab el-Mandeb strait.
The cargoes, which are shipped to Egypt’s Red Sea port of Ain Sukhna and then carried by the Suez-Mediterranean Pipeline to Sidi Kerir, are being offered on a spot basis, two of the sources said, supplementing supplies to Aramco’s term buyers.
While Aramco already supplies some customers in Europe and North America from Sidi Kerir, the additional volumes suggest the company is seeking greater flexibility in reaching its markets after Yemen-based Houthis vowed to attack Saudi crude exports travelling through the Bab el-Mandeb strait at the southern end of the Red Sea.
Aramco declined to comment.
“There is more available and they are offering spot barrels to term customers,” one of the sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said.
Reuters couldn’t confirm the volume or price of the additional offers. The Iran-aligned Houthis said on Thursday they had attacked two Saudi oil tankers in the Red Sea, while Saudi state media later reported that one of the vessels caught fire following the assault. The rising security threat has already forced several oil tankers to change course in the Red Sea to head towards the Suez Canal at the north exit.
Saudi Arabia has increased crude exports via its Red Sea port of Yanbu since the Iran war led to disruptions to Gulf exports via the Strait of Hormuz.
Crude loadings from Sidi Kerir, not all of which will be Saudi crude, have fallen this year to an average of around 427,000 barrels per day, from 735,000 bpd last year, data from commodity and shipping analytics firm Kpler show.
Saudi Arabia typically sells its crude oil in term supply contracts using an official selling price (OSP), with separate prices for customers in Asia, the U.S., North West Europe and the Mediterranean.
(Reporting by Ahmad Ghaddar and Robert Harvey; editing by Jason Neely, Kirsten Donovan)