Saudis Shuttle Oil North On Tankers To Evade Houthis

By Weilun Soon

Aug 22, 2026 (Bloomberg) –Shipowners including Sinokor Group are helping Saudi Arabian crude exit the Red Sea via the safer northern route, as Iran-backed militants target the kingdom’s exports via the Bab el Mandeb chokepoint in the south. 

State-owned Saudi Aramco has been exporting more oil from ports such as Sidi Kerir in the Mediterranean Sea after Yemen-based Houthis started targeting ships that had loaded at the Red Sea export terminal at Yanbu. Over the past month, vessels controlled by South Korea’s Sinokor, Greece’s Dynacom and Norway’s DHT Management AS have been seen shuttling cargoes from Yanbu to