The pipeline system will allow oil to be delivered to the Persian Gulf.
The fleet heading to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea has grown to about 30 supertankers, bypassing the Strait of Hormuz. This was reported by the Financial Times, citing data from ship brokers.
The day before, the number of the "oil armada" had reached 25 supertankers, Bloomberg reported. They were heading to the port to load 50 million barrels of oil from Saudi Arabia. The agency noted that Riyadh is using the terminal to partially restore oil exports.
One supertanker can carry more than 2 million barrels of oil. FT noted that under normal conditions, two such vessels enter this port each month.
The new route is also not completely safe, the Financial Times reported. It passes through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. Ships in this area have been subjected to attacks by Yemeni Houthis in recent years. Moreover, the strait is within the reach of Iranian missiles.
However, freight specialist at the pricing agency Argus, John Ollett, told reporters that given the situation in the Strait of Hormuz, there is simply no other choice.
Yanbu al-Bahr is a city in western Saudi Arabia. It is a major oil terminal on the Red Sea.
Several parallel oil and gas pipelines connect the city with production areas off the coast of the Persian Gulf. There are several large oil refining and petrochemical enterprises, a seawater desalination plant, a commercial port, a naval base, and an airport. Modern highways connect the city with other regions of Saudi Arabia. The population is 299,526 people.
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