The Saudis found an escape hatch for some of the world’s oil. The Houthis could slam it shut

London —  The world, hungry for oil, got a modest reprieve earlier this month when Saudi Arabia began diverting millions of barrels of crude —ordinarily destined for ships transiting the blockaded Strait of Hormuz — to its Red Sea port of Yanbu.But over the weekend Iran-backed Houthi militants entered the war in an escalation that threatens to sever even that lifeline.Anything that jeopardizes Saudi oil flows out of the Red Sea will put more upward pressure on global oil prices, said Richard Bronze, co-founder and head of geopolitics at research firm Energy Aspects.As many as 4.6 million barrels per day were loaded onto vessels at Yanbu over the past two weeks — more than three times the average over 2025, according to shipping data firm Vortexa.That is small compensation for the 15 million barrels the world is missing out on every day the Strait of Hormuz remains shut. But those 4.6 million barrels are enough to rattle supply and, in an extremely sensitive global oil market, choking off another critical trade route would raise oil prices further and trigger or exacerbate local fuel shortages.In late 2023, Houthi militants based in Yemen began attacking commercial vessels passing through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait — located at the southern tip of the Red Sea and meaning «Gate of Tears» in Arabic — in retaliation for Israel’s war in Gaza. The attacks prompted shipping companies to use a longer route, adding weeks onto journeys and forcing them to spend more on fuel, insurance and seafarers’ wages.