BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 28. The Saudi Arabian Oil Group (Aramco), the world's largest oil company, will continue to ship oil and fuel through the southern Red Sea, Trend reports.
"We are navigating through the Red Sea with our oil and oil product cargoes, we find the associated risks manageable," the company’s spokesman said.
Aramco's decision stands in contrast to several other tanker owners who have declined Red Sea voyages following US and UK airstrikes on Houthi targets.
Saudi Arabia has urged the US and Britain to show restraint and pursue peace talks with the Houthis.
Ship tracking data, accessible to Bloomberg, indicates that in the first half of January, Saudi Aramco shipped as much oil from its Red Sea terminal in Yanbu to Europe as it did for the entire month of December 2023.
The Saudis find it challenging to abandon deliveries via the Red Sea, as a substantial portion of the kingdom's infrastructure relies on this route. The challenging situation in the Red Sea has already resulted in a 20 percent reduction in global trade.
On January 12, targets associated with the Ansar Allah movement in various Yemeni cities, including Sana’a and Hodeidah, were subjected to a joint strike by US and British aircraft, ships, and submarines. President Joe Biden attributed the attack directly to unprecedented Houthi assaults in the Red Sea. The US administration clarified that the strikes focused on rocket and unmanned aerial vehicle launch sites, along with radar stations controlled by Houthi rebels. Subsequently, the US has consistently targeted Houthi missile launchers in Yemen. Despite this, the UK announced no intentions of conducting additional strikes following the January 12 operation.
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