Saudi Aramco announced the temporary diversion of crude oil shipments to Yanbu Industrial Port, according to the Saudi Gazette.
The step seeks to boost safety precautions while ensuring the uninterrupted flow of oil supplies.
The company announced that part of its crude shipments had been redirected to Yanbu as an alternative route for customers unable to access the Arabian Gulf, Al Ekhbariya reported.
Currently, Aramco is expanding its efforts to ensure the stability of global oil supplies, while closely monitoring developments to assess when operations can safely return to normal.
The decision comes amid ongoing disruption to tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, with rising regional storage levels further complicating crude shipments.
According to oil tanker tracking data compiled by Bloomberg, five large crude carriers have already loaded cargoes at Yanbu so far this month, with exports surging to three times the level recorded in February.
On February 28, a wave of joint US-Israel strikes targeted Iran, targeting its leaders and igniting a new conflict in the Middle East.
Tehran has been responding to these strikes with a wave of counterattacks in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi as a retaliatory move, while launching barrages of missiles and drones toward Israel.
As a critical maritime chokepoint, the Strait of Hormuz handles approximately a quarter of the world’s seaborne oil and roughly one‑fifth of all liquefied natural gas flows.
Due to the escalating tensions, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps declared that the waterway was unsafe. Therefore, the authorities halted ship movements.
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