Oil Rebounds Above $91 as the Houthis Blockade the Red Sea
Brent crude rebounded to more than $91 a barrel on Tuesday, reversing an early dip, after Yemen’s Houthis declared a naval blockade of Saudi Arabia and a tanker was abandoned off Oman. The blockade opens a second front in the region’s shipping war, widening supply fears from the Gulf to the Red Sea, even as mediators pressed a ceasefire proposal. Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains near a standstill.
The Iran-aligned group framed the embargo as retaliation for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen, “an eye for an eye, effective immediately”, threatening the very route the kingdom uses to bypass Hormuz. Earlier, a tanker was struck by an unknown projectile east of Oman’s Limah, forcing its crew into a lifeboat, Britain’s maritime authority said, while Iran’s Guard claimed two tankers had caught fire on the strait’s southern route. With Hormuz transits down to a handful of vessels a day and inventories at multi-year lows, any escalation is enough to keep prices tense. For British drivers the pressure feeds straight to the pumps. Watch whether the Houthis move from declaration to attack.