Some oil majors and top trading houses have suspended crude oil and fuel shipments via the Strait of Hormuz amid ongoing U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran and Tehran’s retaliation, four trading sources said on Saturday.
The strait lies between Oman and Iran and links the Gulf north of it with the Gulf of Oman to the south and the Arabian Sea beyond. About a fifth of the world’s total oil consumption passes through the strait.
“Our ships will stay put for several days,” one top executive at a major trading desk said.
The EU maritime mission Eunavfor Aspides advised the shipping industry to remain vigilant and said attacks on ships could not be ruled out following the strikes on Iran.
Aspides said in a statement sources had said Yemen’s Houthis threatened to launch new attacks against Israel and U.S. ships in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, adding it was ready to help protect lives at sea.–Reuters
