Saudi Aramco Offers Oil from Oman Amid Hormuz Tensions

Saudi Arabia's state oil company, Saudi Aramco, is offering to sell oil from off the coast of Oman. This move may indicate that the kingdom is following in the footsteps of the United Arab Emirates by diverting more barrels through the Strait of Hormuz.

The offers are being made on a ship-to-ship basis from locations including Sohar in the Gulf of Oman, with the grades being marketed as Arab Medium and Arab Heavy. This suggests that the barrels came from inside the Persian Gulf.

Saudi Aramco's trading arm shuttled some supplies through Hormuz in May, but the kingdom's ability to divert exports to its Red Sea port of Yanbu made it less reliant on the waterway. However, recent signs indicate that even those diverted Red Sea flows are under threat after Yemen's Houthi militants declared a maritime blockade on Saudi Arabia.