When Saudi Arabia reopened its Mu’ajjiz (Yanbu South) Red Sea crude export terminal in 2018 it was widely seen as a move to reduce its strategic reliance on the Strait of Hormuz chokepoint (MEES, 19 October 2018). With the ability to pipe more than 5mn b/d west across the kingdom to its expanded Yanbu export terminals from its oil production heartlands on the Gulf coast, Aramco could greatly reduce the impact on exports of any move by Iran to block Hormuz.
This year has underlined the importance of this strategic flexibility for Saudi Arabia amid geopolitical turbulence, with Red Sea crude oil exports set to easily break annual records. Yet ironically this has been in response to commercial opportunities opened up by security threats in the southern Red Sea itself rather than at Hormuz. (CONTINUED - 846 WORDS)
