At least 11 tankers have been attacked in and around the Strait of Hormuz since last Monday, including four in the past two days, highlighting the growing
risks facing oil shipments from the region. The attacks have continued as the Middle East faces the prospect of a wider conflict. On Sunday, the Saudi-backed government of Yemen announced a major military campaign against the Iran-backed Houthi militia, following Houthi strikes on key oil infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. The incidents have raised fresh concerns about the security of one of the world's most important energy routes. US forces have been protecting ships carrying oil through the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran asserted control over after the US and Israel attacked it more than seven months ago. But the increased military protection has not eliminated the risks facing commercial shipping. "Few expected a near closure of the world’s most critical energy artery to last so long, or its impact to spread so widely," Saudi Aramco chief executive Amin Nasser said at the Energy Intelligence Forum in London on Monday. "This is one of the worst crises of my career, and my career is long," he added. Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading at around $102 a barrel on Monday. Analysts said the recent increase in oil exports from the Persian Gulf had helped contain the rise in prices since the war began. Exports have reached their highest levels since the start of the conflict. The Group of Seven nations also said on Friday that they had agreed to release emergency stocks of diesel and crude over the next four months. But analysts have warned that the release of emergency supplies may provide only temporary relief from high prices and shortages. Japan, which has already used some of its stockpiles, said on Monday that it had no plans for further releases. Nasser said global oil stocks were now "scarily thin". He said the world had about 10 billion barrels in stockpiles when the war began, compared with about six billion now, and warned that rebuilding national reserves could take as long as two years. "Until Hormuz fully reopens and confidence returns, the crude reality is that pressure at both ends of the barrel will intensify," he said. He called for greater international coordination on oil stockpiling and emergency planning. Attacks on Saudi Oil Infra Saudi Arabia is among the world's biggest oil suppliers, making any prolonged disruption to its ability to export crude a potential threat to global energy markets. On Saturday, the Houthis claimed a missile and drone attack had caused fires at a Saudi Aramco facility in Riyadh. Videos verified by The New York Times showed a fire at an oil refinery in the city belonging to the company. Nasser played down the weekend attack, as well as a drone strike last month on Saudi Arabia's critical East-West pipeline. "Our system is intact," he said. He did not provide details about the damage to the pipeline, which was temporarily taken offline, but said: "We are meeting all of our customer requirements today." At the same time, attacks on commercial vessels by Iran have become more frequent. "Any attack comes with a global crisis," Nasser said. Dimitris Maniatis, founder of maritime risk firm Marisks, told The New York Times that he believed the recent attacks were a response to the growing number of commercial ships using the Strait in recent weeks. "What the Iranians are doing now is shooting blindly," Maniatis said, referring to the use of missiles and drones simultaneously. "Their objective is to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz through fear," he added. Maniatis said Iran was attempting to "overwhelm the capability" of US forces protecting ships travelling through the Strait. On Monday, another tanker was hit by an "unknown projectile" while passing through the Strait, according to the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations, administered by Britain's Royal Navy. The strike caused a fire in the engine room, and the crew was working to contain it on Monday night. New Routes, Higher Costs Oil executives say the conflict has fundamentally changed how crude is transported out of the Persian Gulf. Pipelines that were once secondary to the Strait of Hormuz have become increasingly important as alternative routes. Practices previously associated mainly with sanctioned or so-called shadow vessels, including switching off transponders and travelling "dark" to avoid detection, have also become more common. More ships are being used and vessels are taking longer routes to move oil, adding costs of millions of dollars a day.
