Saudi Oil Supertankers Escape Yemen Blockade via Red Sea

Chinese supertankers carrying Saudi Arabian oil have managed to exit the Red Sea via the Bab el-Mandeb strait, despite a blockade by Yemen's Houthi militias. The Xin Long Yang and Cosnew Lake vessels, both Very Large Crude Carriers (VLCCs), carried a combined 4 million barrels of crude oil from Saudi Arabia's port of Yanbu. According to LSEG shipping data, the Xin Long Yang resumed its journey southward on Wednesday after making a U-turn in the middle of the Red Sea on Tuesday.

The Cosnew Lake followed and both tankers exited the Red Sea later on Thursday. The Xin Long Yang was headed for the port of Qinzhou in southern Guangxi province, while the Cosnew Lake is expected to discharge its cargo at the port of Huizhou in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong.

The blockade by the Houthi militias has worsened global energy supply disruption, coming at a time when the Strait of Hormuz has practically shut due to the resumption of fighting between the US and Iran. At least two other VLCCs chartered by Unipec, trading arm of Asia's largest refiner Sinopec 600028.SS, have slowed their advance towards Bab el-Mandeb and are making small circles in the Gulf of Aden.