\n The strait has long been a vital artery of global trade, but has become significantly more important since the US-Iran war effectively shuttered the nearby Strait of Hormuz.\n <\/p>\n
\n In recent months, Saudi Arabia has used it to export millions of barrels of its oil. Without the Bab al-Mandeb strait, less oil can exit the region. It will also need to take much longer routes, fueling inflation by adding delays and costs onto already-elevated shipping rates.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe Bab al-Mandeb had been a lifeline. Losing that lifeline has been a wake-up call for the (oil) market of how unsustainable the situation now is,\u201d Richard Bronze, co-founder of Energy Aspects, told CNN.\n <\/p>\n
\n Before the war, about 20 million barrels of oil transited the Strait of Hormuz each day, representing about a fifth of the world\u2019s supply. Once that waterway closed, Saudi Arabia began re-routing crude along its East-to-West pipeline and unloading barrels at the Red Sea port of Yanbu.\n <\/p>\n
\n At its peak, around 4.5 million barrels of crude per day were exported from Yanbu, with the bulk \u2013 about 3 million barrels per day \u2013 exiting via Bab al-Mandeb, according to Bronze.\n <\/p>\n
\n Saudi crude flows through Bab al-Mandeb \u201ccollapsed\u201d to about 400,000 barrels per day in August owing to the Houthi threat and are now even lower, said Bronze.\n <\/p>\n
![\"Yemeni](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ap26099435460715.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n To avoid the strait, many oil cargoes must take a far longer and more circuitous route to reach Asia, up via the Suez Canal into the Mediterranean, down the western coast of Africa and around its base and then across the Indian ocean \u2013 an epic voyage adding about a month\u2019s worth of transit time and pushing up freight costs.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cWe\u2019ve seen a lot of refineries in Asia going out and searching for alternatives, so they\u2019re bidding up oil cargoes in other regions, and that is the big driver of why oil prices have been rising so sharply,\u201d Bronze said.\n <\/p>\n
\n News that the Houthis had captured strategic Red Sea locations helped send oil prices rocketing on Thursday. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, and WTI, the US benchmark, both rose more than 7% to hit $108 and $103 a barrel, respectively \u2014 their highest levels<\/a> since May.\n <\/p>\n \n Johannes Rauball, senior crude analyst at Kpler, said that a confluence of factors \u2013 Red Sea shipping disruptions, oil production cuts by Saudi Arabia and Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy infrastructure \u2013 had pushed global oil prices past $100 a barrel.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWith no quick resolution in sight and these disruptions set to persist, refiners are increasingly being pushed to secure additional crude, which is pushing crude prices higher,\u201d he told CNN.\n <\/p>\n